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Ouabaug 1660-1910 

An Account of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth 

Anniversary Celebration Held at 

West Brookfield, Mass. 

September 21, 1910 



Compiled and Edited 

By CHARLES J. ADAMS 

Assistant Professor of English 
in Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 

Under the Direction 
of THE 

Committee on Publication, of the Joint Executive 

Committee Elected by the Towns of 

Brookfield, West Brookfield, 

North Brookfield and 

New Braintree 



Davis Press 

Worcester, Mass. 

1915 



F7i 






Gift 

Author 
I Ptmn) 
27 I9fj 



COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION 

Alfred C. Stoddard, North Brookfield, Chairman, 
Arthur F. Btttterworth, Brookfield. 

Carlton D. Richardson, West Brookfield. 

D. Clarence Wetherell, New Braintree. 
Harold A. Foster, North Brookfield. 



PREFACE 

Since work was first undertaken looking toward the 
preparation of the following narrative, four members of the 
Joint Executive Committee in charge of the two hundred 
and fiftieth anniversary celebration of the settlement of 
Brookfield have died. To the memory of these gentlemen 
— Hon. Theodore C. Bates, of North Brookfield, Hon. George 
K. Tufts, of New Braintree, Rev. Benson M. Frink, of West 
Brookfield, and Mr. Frank E. Prouty, of Brookfield— the 
Committee on Publication takes this opportunity to pay its 
sincere tribute of respect. Three of the deceased — Mr. Bates 
Mr. Tufts, and Mr. Frink — were members of the original 
Committee on Publication. Mr. Frink, it is known, had 
collected much material for an historical account of the cele- 
bration and had even made a beginning toward the writing 
of it. But the fire that destroyed his home, not long after 
his death, consumed all this material. It is believed that 
both Mr. Bates and Mr. Tufts had likewise gathered together 
a considerable quantity of valuable data. No trace of their 
collections, if such existed, has, however, as yet been found. 
The years that have elapsed since the date of the celebration 
have made it extremely difficult, if not in some particulars 
impossible, to reassemble all the facts that it would have been 
desirable to preserve in permanent form for future reference. 
Under these circumstances, the compiler dares not hope that 
the following pages will prove to be devoid of errors or re- 



D PREFACE 

grettable omissions. He does, however, most earnestly hope 
and believe, that they have been reduced to a minimum. 

To the reorganized Committee on Publication, under 
whose guidance he has labored, he is sincerely grateful for 
the very efficient assistance and uniform kindness they have 
extended to him. Without their constant aid, it would, 
indeed, have been impossible to complete the work at all. 

In conclusion, may he add that it is to him a genuine 
pleasure to have had a part, however modest, in perpetuating 
the honorable history of his native district. 

Charles J. Adams. 
Worcester, Mass., July 1, 1914. 



QUABAUG 1660-1910 

An Account of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth 
Anniversary Celebration Held at 
West Brookfield, Mass., 
September 21, 1910. 

THE two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the found- 
ing of Brookfield was celebrated on September 21, 1910, 
at West Brookfield, on and around the site of the first English 
settlement in the Quabaug territory. Elaborate commem- 
orative exercises were arranged and carried out under the 
direction of a Joint Executive Committee elected by the 
towns of Brookfield, West Brookfield, North Brookfield, and 
New Braintree, the first three of which are included, together 
with a portion of the fourth, within the limits of the original 
Quabaug grant. 

Among the various sub-committees named by this body 
was one intrusted with the duty of preparing for publication 
a complete account of the celebration, from the inception of 
the idea in the imagination of a few individuals, through all 
the preliminary stages, to its successful accomplishment on 
the appointed day. This committee, having completed its 
labors, offers the following narrative, in the hope not only 
that it may serve to revive pleasant memories in the minds 
of those who were present on the occasion, but that future 
generations inhabiting the Quabaug townships will find it 
not without permanent interest as an historical document. 

I. Preparing the Way. 

As the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the origi- 
nal Quabaug settlement approached, the idea of making it 



8 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

the occasion for some sort of celebration was doubtless more 
or less vaguely present in the minds of many, especially 
among the older residents of the Brookfields, who could recall 
the observance of the two hundredth anniversary, fifty years 
before. The honor of taking the initiative in efforts looking 
toward the materialization of the idea, however, belongs to 
the Quabaug Historical Society, a number of whose members, 
as early as the spring of 1909, had begun in a quiet waj r to 
consider what could be done. 

One of the most enthusiastic of these individuals was 
Rev. Benson M. Frink, of West Brookfield, a vice-president 
of the society, around whom much of the activity connected 
with the preliminary movement centered. Another of the 
vice-presidents, Hon. George K. Tufts, of New Braintree, 
was also deeply interested from the first. "I like the idea 
of observing the 250th anniversary of the actual beginning 
of the Brookfields, verjr much, " he wrote, under date of April 
27, 1909, "not merely on account of the material gain sug- 
gested, but on account of the sentiment involved in such an 
observance. Perhaps I am a little old-fashioned, but in 
these days, when the idea of utility seems to be the prevailing 
one ; a turning aside to a consideration of first principles, in 
the way of an observance of the kind suggested, always 
appeals to me. I can conceive of no fitter instrumentality 
than the Historical Society, which, if I remember aright, has 
not met since September, 1907. I do not recall the cele- 
bration of 1860, as I was in college, but I should be very glad 
to promote a similar one in 1910." 

The president of the society, Robert Batcheller, had 
removed his residence, a year or two previously, to the city 
of Washington. When the suggestion was communicated 
to him, however, his interest was immediately aroused. On 
June 5, 1909, he wrote: "I approve of the idea as you outline 
it, and if it is carried out I will make every effort to be pres- 
ent. I will be responsible for a subscription of $100 to a fund 
to carry out a celebration under a good committee. But 



PREPARING THE WAY 9 

personally, to my regret, I cannot do much, if anything, 
because I can be so little in or near Massachusetts. For 
months I have felt most uncomfortable in my mind, because 
of my continuing to hold the presidency of the Quabaug 
Historical Society, when I have by so doing blocked the 
wheels of its progress. I have decided to resign the presi- 
dency therefore, and shall write at once to that effect. But 
my interest will remain, you may be sure, and I will back 
it up with the amount I have named, and be present if 
possible." 

Although Mr. Batcheller felt impelled to carry out his 
threat, and did, indeed, place his resignation in the hands of 
the society's executive committee shortly afterwards, thus 
modestly stepping aside and permitting others to reap the 
full glory for successfully launching the most difficult under- 
taking ever attempted by the Historical Society, too great 
credit cannot be accorded him for his part in making that 
success possible. It is but simple justice to him and to the 
cause of truth to repeat in this connection the tribute paid 
him on another occasion by Rev. Joseph J. Spencer in the 
preface which he prepared for the pamphlet containing Mr. 
Batcheller's sketch of the organization and work of the 
Quabaug Historical Society during the first five years of its 
existence : 

He speaks all too modestly about his own part in bringing 
this Quabaug Historical Society up to its present flourishing 
condition. There are many who realize that the largest 
credit is due him for his unstinted efforts in behalf of the or- 
ganization. In heat and cold, in fair weather and in foul, 
his zeal has been unvarying and his generosity unlimited. 
Without his liberal contributions of time, money, energy and 
tact, much that has been of most value to us all could not 
have been brought about. * * * He was the one person pre- 
eminently adapted to lead in the organization of the society. 
The unflagging interest of the meetings, the absence of tire- 
some details of business routine, the careful management of 
all the affairs of the society and the fostering of the spirit of 



10 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

genial good fellowship between the various branches of the 
organization, have all been due to the personal oversight of 
the president. 

These are not idle words of courtesy, but express the 
simple truth. It was with deep regret that the society ac- 
cepted his resignation, after vainly attempting to persuade 
him to continue in his office for another year and serve as 
president of the day on the occasion of the celebration. But 
while nothing could alter his belief that others were now more 
fortunately situated to lead in the work which he had begun, 
the inestimable value of his service through many years 
should not be forgotten, nor the fact that his pledge of $100 
was the first pledge of money received in connection with 
plans for the anniversary. 

After a number of informal conferences had been held, 
the time seemed ripe for bringing the matter before the atten- 
tion of the society as a Avhole. The first formal step was 
taken bj^ Rev. Benson M. Frink, Carlton D. Richardson and 
Philander Holmes, three members of the executive committee 
from West Brookfield, who, on June 7, 1909, issued a call for 
a meeting of the officers of the various branches of the society, 
to be held in Grand Army Hall, West Brookfield, on the even- 
ing of June 19. Among those present at this meeting were: 
Rev. Benson M. Frink, Mr. and Mrs. Philander Holmes, and 
Carlton D. Richardson, of West Brookfield; Emerson H. 
Stoddard, of Brookfield; Alfred C. Stoddard, of North Brook- 
field; Hon. George K. Tufts and D. Clarence Wetherell, of 
New Braintree, and Daniel G. Hitchcock, of Warren. Rev. 
Benson M. Frink presided, while Mrs. Philander Holmse 
served as secretary. At this meeting the proposed celebra- 
tion was thoroughly discussed and the prevailing sentiment 
was at the moment in favor of extending it over an entire 
week, with a separate old home day in each of the five towns, 
and, on the sixth day, an elaborate joint celebration on West 
Brookfield Common, not far from the site of the original 
settlement. 



PREPARING THE WAY 11 

Early in August, a second meeting was held at the same 
place, with seventeen persons attending. The proposition 
was again gone over, and it was voted as the sense of the 
meeting "that the Quabaug Historical Society be the in- 
strument or medium of taking charge of the celebration." 

During the month of September, the executive com- 
mittee held several meetings at the home of Rev. Benson M. 
Frink, in West Brookfield, completing plans to bring the 
entire matter before the annual meeting of the society, in 
North Brookfield, on October 14. It was in these sessions 
of the executive committee that the main features of the cele- 
bration, as it was finally carried out, were gradually evolved. 
Chief among these features were a parade, a dinner, an ad- 
dress, and an historical pageant representing the destruction 
of the first settlement by the Indians during King Philip's 
War. 

In connection with the historical pageant, it is of interest 
to note that, twelve or fifteen years previously, such an affair 
had been discussed with Carlton D. Richardson by the late 
David F. Lincoln, of West Brookfield. Mr. Lincoln had 
made a life-long study of the Indian history of the territory, 
while Mr. Richardson was the owner of the farm on which 
such a pageant would naturally be held, since the site of the 
block house in which the settlers fortified themselves during 
the seige was almost in his dooryard. Mr. Lincoln outlined 
the general course that the pageant must follow, and arranged 
many of the details. During his lifetime, no suitable occa- 
sion presented itself, but the pageant of 1910 carried out his 
plans so closely that it may be said to have been the work of 
his hand and brain. 

The whole matter of the proposed celebration was for- 
mally presented to the Historical Society through its execu- 
tive committee at the annual meeting, in North Brookfield, 
on October 14. The principal result of this meeting was the 
appointment of a committee to invite the co-operation of the 
several towns. It was further voted, "that this committee 



12 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

interest themselves and report at an adjourned meeting, 
inviting the selectmen of the various towns to this meeting, 
at North Brookfield, four weeks from to-day, November 11, 
1909." 

The boards of selectmen cordially responded to the invi- 
tation, and at the adjourned meeting gave assurance of their 
desire to co-operate to the extent of their ability. Already 
the plans, as outlined, were assuming considerable propor- 
tions. The occasion was felt to be worthy of a most elaborate 
celebration, and the expenses would necessarily be heavy. 
As these would have to be met, in large part, if not in whole, 
by appropriations made by the various towns, and as there 
appeared to be some question as to the legal rights of the 
towns to appropriate money for a joint celebration of this 
nature, it was voted at this adjourned meeting of the society 
to call special town meetings in each of the towns for the pur- 
pose of petitioning the Legislature to bestow upon them such 
rights. Hon. Theodore C. Bates, of North Brookfield, and 
Arthur F. Butterworth, of Brookfield, were elected a com- 
mittee to prepare the necessary legal papers. 

The special town meetings were held in the spring of 
1910. The following extract from the warrant for the meet- 
ing in North Brookfield adequately represents them all: 

Article 2. To see if the town will vote to petition the 
General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to 
authorize the town of North Brookfield to raise money by 
taxation to aid and assist in paying the expenses that may be 
incurred by the celebration and observance in the year 1910 
of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding 
or settlement of the original town of Brookfield, (formerly 
called Quabaug), such celebration to be held during the year 
1910, and to be participated in by the towns of Brookfield, 
North Brookfield, West Brookfield, Warren, and New Brain- 
tree, the territory now embraced in the five towns having 
been formerly, in whole or in part, within the original grant 
of land in the year 1660, by the Bay Colony of Massachusetts, 
to constitute the town of Brookfield, and act thereon. 



PREPARING THE WAY 13 

On the affirmative action of the towns interested, the 
petitions were sent to the Legislature, and the desired per- 
mission was speedily forthcoming. (Acts and Resolves of 
1910, Resolves, Chapters 16, 17, 18, and 122.) At this point 
in the proceedings, the town of Warren, feeling that its con- 
nection with the old Quabaug township was too slight and 
transitory to warrant participation in the celebration, with- 
drew. The other towns, however, proceeded at later special 
town meetings to appropriate money — Brookfield, North 
Brookfield, and West Brookfield, $300 each, and New Brain- 
tree, $75 — and to appoint committees, which, combined as 
a Joint Executive Committee, should have entire charge of 
the planning for and carrying out of the celebration. These 
committees were as follows: 

Brookfield: West Brookfield: 

Frank E. Prouty JohnG. Shackley 

Emerson H. Stoddard Albert W. Bliss 

Arthur F. Butterworth Philander Holmes 

William Mulcahy Carlton D. Richardson 

Arthur H. Drake Rev. Benson M. Frink 

North Brookfield : New Braintree : 

Hon. Theodore C. Bates Hon. George K. Tufts 

Thomas G. Richards D. Clarence Wetherell 

Harold A. Foster J. Thomas Webb 

Patrick J. Daniels Charles S. Lane 

Alfred C. Stoddard James E. Barr 

On the permanent organization of this committee, 
somewhat later, Hon. Theodore C. Bates was elected chair- 
man, Harold A. Foster, secretary, and Philander Holmes, 
treasurer. 

To these gentlemen, officers and members of the joint 
executive committee, is due the warmest gratitude of the 
towns and the highest credit for the success of the celebration. 
Their unsparing expenditure of time and energy, their con- 
spicuous ability, and the absolute harmony with which they 
labored, often under trying circumstances, in the faithful 



14 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

performance of their arduous duties, have written their names 
high on the list of our towns' efficient, unselfish, and patriotic 
public servants. 

The first meeting of this committee was held on June 
27, 1910, in the Selectmen's Room at the Town House in 
West Brookfield, which town was selected as the committee's 
regular place of meeting. In the twelve weeks that inter- 
vened between this date and the day of the celebration, 
September 21, fourteen meetings were held, at least one of 
them lasting practically all day. The briefest glance at the 
records of these meetings suffices to indicate the vast variety 
and multiplicity of the business transacted. 

The celebration, as it gradually took shape during the 
deliberations of these gentlemen, was to consist of a parade 
in West Brookfield village; an historical pageant on Foster's 
Hill, representing the Indian attack on the first settlement 
and its burning in 1675; a dinner on West Brookfield Com- 
mon, and an oration, with other literary and musical features 
suitable to the occasion. Each of these features was placed 
in the hands of a sub-committee, while still other sub-com- 
mittees were appointed to invite notable guests, attend to 
their reception, provide an exhibit of historic relics, organize 
a bureau of information, and arrange for other details in con- 
nection with the events of the day. These committees were 
made up as follows: 

Literary Committee: 

Hon. George K. Tufts, New Braintree, Chairman. 
Hon. Theodore C. Bates, North Brookfield. 
Rev. Benson M. Prink, West Brookfield. 
Rev. William L. Walsh, Brookfield. 

Committee on Tents and Dinner: 

Carlton D. Richardson, West Brookfield, Chairman. 
Thomas G. Richards, North Brookfield. 
William Mulcahy, Brookfield. 
James E. Barr, New Braintree. 



preparing the way 15 

Committee on Music: 

John G. Shackley, West Brookfielcl, Chairman. 
Alfred C. Stoddard, North Brookfield. 
Charles S. Lane, New Braintree. 
Arthur F. Butterworth, Brookfield. 

Committee on Printing Invitations: 

Thomas G. Richards, North Brookfield, Chairman. 
Rev. Benson M. Frink, West Brookfield. 
Emerson H. Stoddard, Brookfield. 
D. Clarence Wetherell, New Braintree. 

Committee on Inviting Notable Guests: 

Hon. T. C. Bates, North Brookfield, Chairman 
Hon. George K. Tufts, New Braintree. 
Arthur F. Butterworth, Brookfield. 
John G. Shackley, West Brookfield. 

Committee on Parade: 

J. Thomas Webb, New Braintree, Chairman. 
Philander Holmes, West Brookfield. 
William Mulcahy, Brookfield. 
Patrick J. Daniels, North Brookfield. 

Committee on Programme : 

Hon. T. C. Bates, North Brookfield, Chairman. 
Rev. Benson M. Frink, West Brookfield. 
Arthur F. Butterworth, Brookfield. 
James E. Barr, New Braintree. 

Committee on Locating Tents on Common: 

Carlton D. Richardson, West Brookfield, Chairman. 
John G. Shackley, West Brookfield. 
Albert W. Bliss, West Brookfield. 
Philander Holmes, West Brookfield. 
Rev. Benson M. Frink, West Brookfield. 

Committee on School Children: 

Emerson H. Stoddard, Brookfield, Chairman. 
Alfred C. Stoddard, North Brookfield. 
Philander Holmes, West Brookfield. 
Hon. George K. Tufts, New Braintree. 



16 two hundred and fiftieth anniversary 

Committee on Bagdes: 

John G. Shackley, West Brookfield, Chairman. 
Carlton D. Richardson, West Brookfield. 
D. Clarence Wetherell, New Braintree. 

Committee on Relics: 

Albert W. Bliss, West Brookfield. 

Bureau of Information: 

Albert W. Bliss, West Brookfield, Chairman. 
Emerson H. Stoddard, Brookfield. 
D. Clarence Wetherell, New Braintree. 
Harold A. Foster, North Brookfield. 

Reception Committee: 

Hon. T. C. Bates, North Brookfield, Chairman. 

The Reception Committee was made up of a large 
number of ladies and gentlemen from the four towns 
whose names will be found in Appendix A. 

Committee on Publication of Proceedings of the Day: 

Hon. T. C. Bates, North Brookfield, Chairman. 
Hon. George K. Tufts, New Braintree. 
Rev. Benson M. Frink, West Brookfield. 
Arthur F. Butterworth, Brookfield. 
Harold A. Foster, North Brookfield. 

Between the date of the celebration and the actual be- 
ginning of the labors of the Committee on Publication, three 
of its members — Hon. Theodore C. Bates, Hon. George K. 
Tufts, and Rev. Benson M. Frink — passed away. Mr. Bates 
was succeeded by Alfred C. Stoddard, of North Brookfield; 
Mr. Tufts, by D. Clarence Wetherell, of New Braintree, and 
Mr. Frink, by Carlton D. Richardson, of West Brookfield. 
On the reorganization of the committee, Mr. Stoddard was 
elected chariman. 

One of the first acts of the Joint Executive Committee 
was the election of its chairman, Hon. Theodore C. Bates, 
of North Brookfield, as President of the Day, with the fol- 
lowing vice-presidents: Hon. George K. Tufts, of New Brain- 




Hon. Theodore C. Bates 



PREPARING THE WAY 17 

tree; Rev. Beuson M. Frink, of West Brookfield, and Arthur 

F. Butterworth, of Brookfield. Hon. Roger Foster, of New 
York, a descendent of the ancient family from which Foster's 
Hill takes its name, was secured as the principal orator, while 
brief addresses were also promised by His Excellency, Gov- 
ernor Eben S. Draper, of Massachusetts; Congressman 
Frederic H. Gillette, of Springfield; Congressman Charles 

G. Washburn, of Worcester, and Mayor James Logan, of 
Worcester. Mme. Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller, the gifted 
daughter of Hon. Theodore C. Bates, consented to sing, and 
arrangements were made for a chorus of school-children 
from the four towns, under the direction of Dana J. Pratt, 
of Worcester. As chief marshal of the parade, Carlton D. 
Richardson, of West Brookfield, was elected. 

One of the happiest thoughts of the committee was the 
invitation extended to the Quabaug Tribe of Red Men, of 
West Brookfield, to participate as Indian warriors in the 
sham battle on Foster's Hill, and the cordial co-operation 
of this organization was one of the chief factors in assuring 
the success of the pageant. 

Among the gracious actions of the committee, which 
should be mentioned as affording a pleasant indication that 
its members were no less appreciative of the courtesies suit- 
able to the occasion than of such duties as tended merely to 
efficiency, was the extending of an invitation to Mr. Ezra D. 
Batcheller, of North Brookfield, the only living member of 
the executive committee in charge of the two hundredth 
anniversary celebration, fifty years before, to be the guest 
of the committee. A similar invitation was extended to 
Mrs. Lyman Whiting, whose husband, the late Rev. Dr. 
Lyman Whiting, delivered the oration at the two hundredth 
anniversary celebration. The invitations were accepted, 
and both Mr. Batcheller and Mrs. Whiting were present. 

The committee also undertook a strenuous campaign 
of advertising. Frequent articles, historical as well as of a 
purely advertising nature, appeared in various newspapers 




The dndbrsignbd, a Oomsiittkb elected by thb 

Towns of Bhookpibld, North Brookpield, 

West Brookfibld and New Braintrhe cordially 

invite you with your friends, to join us on 

W EDNESDAY, SePTEMBEB !lfXsT, 1*3X0 

IN CELEBRATING AT 

West Brookfield 



Xwo Hundred and X djtieth Anniversary 

of the Settlement or Founding of the 

Town of Brookfield, (Quabaug,) Mass. 

1660 1910 

i:\ECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
Brookfibld North Brookfibld 



frank e. prouty 
emerson h. stoddard 
arthur f. butter worth 
william muloahy 
arthur h. drake 

West Brookfield 
john q. shaokley 
albert w. bliss 
philander holmes 
carlton d. richardson 
rev. benson m. fr1xk 

hon. theodore c. bates 

Cd\iiiji.i.\ 



hon. theodore c. bates 
thomas g. richards 
harold a. foster 
patrick j. daniels 
alfred o. stoddard 

New Braintrbb 
hon. george k. tufts 
d. clarence wetherell 
.1. thomas webb 
charles s. lane 
james b. barr 

harold a. foster 

Sborbtaky 



PREPARING THE WAY 19 

of Boston, Springfield, and Worcester, as well as in the local 
press. In this work the foremost place was taken by Hon. 
Theodore C. Bates and Frederick M. Ashby, of North Brook- 
field. In addition, posters were put up in all conspicuous 
places and otherwise scattered broadcast throughout the 
region, circulars were issued, and hundreds of letters written. 

So, all through the summer of 1910, no effort was spared 
to pave the way for the biggest and most successful celebra- 
tion ever held in the Quabaug territory. As the plans ma- 
tured, public enthusiasm steadily increased. On September 
18, the Sunday immediately preceding the anniversary, 
special services were held, on the invitation of the committee, 
in most of the churches of the four towns. At these services, 
the higher lessons of patriotism, civic morality and religious 
duty were dwelt upon, and the brave story of the past was 
employed to inspire profound gratitude in the hearts of the 
hearers, a deeper faith in the divine leadership, and a more 
vivid consciousness of personal obligation to advance the 
nobler ends of living. Through the kindness of the superin- 
tendents and teachers of the public schools, a day was also 
set apart for special historical and patriotic exercises in the 
schools. 

Monday and Tuesday were, for the members of the 
Joint Executive Committee, doubtless, the most strenuous 
days of their lives. With a thousand last things to be done, 
there was scarcely time to crowd in a brief meeting, the last 
held by the committee previous to the long-awaited event. 
"Members of the General Committee" — so runs the laconic 
report of the secretary — "announced that the arrangements 
for the following day were progressing rapidly; and, as the 
members were busy making final arrangements, it was voted 
to adjourn to the call of the chairman. " 

It may be doubted whether the members of the com- 
mittee went to bed at all that night, or, if they did, whether, 
with brains still working at fever heat in the vain endeavor 
to detect a single detail that had been overlooked, they caught 



20 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

a wink of sleep. But the other residents of the Quabaug 
townships, knowing full well in whom of their fellow-citizens 
they had placed their trust, went calmly to their beds, their 
only anxiety in the world being some apprehension as to the 
possible antics of the weather-man. 

II. The Parade. 

If the aforesaid weather-man had been a native of Brook- 
field and had devoted all his life to practicing the difficult 
art of producing a perfect day for the celebration of his mother 
town's quarter-millenium, he could not have compassed a 
more brilliant success. In the early gray of the morning, a 
heavy shower of rain cleared the air and laid the dust upon 
the country roads. No wonder the face of the rising sun 
beamed with satisfaction, for wherever he looked upon the 
Quabaug landscape, field and hill, highway and byway, 
farmstead and village-home, shone clean and fresh from its 
matutinal ablutions, while his bright rays agreeably tempered 
the crisp air of autumn. 

In every village, too, he found a profusion of gay bunt- 
ing; for not only the public buildings, but many of the private 
residences as well, proudly returned his gaze, as though con- 
scious of the brave apparel in which the decorator had 
adorned them. 

From the spires of the four villages, the merry peal of 
sunrise bells proclaimed the dawning of the gala day. Hardly 
had they ceased, when from the remotest outposts of the dis- 
trict each house and hamlet began to send out little groups 
of pilgrims, all wending toward the center of the day's festi- 
vities. The scene must have reminded the ghosts of the long- 
ago dwellers in the land — if any such were lurking in the 
morning twilight — of that autumn day in 1740, when the 
roads for miles around were dotted with little knots of folk 
journeying up to Foster's Hill to hear George Whitefield 
preach. Here and there, too — in striking contrast with the 



THE PARADE 21 

sober appearance of the earlier pilgrims — were gaily decora- 
ted floats, companies of red-shirted firemen with their shining 
apparatus, and everywhere bevies of maidens clad in festive 
raiment that their great-great-grandmothers would have 
opened wide their eyes to gaze on. 

Every means of egress to West Brookfield — highway, 
trolley road, steam railway — poured in its living stream. By 
eight o'clock, the Common and the surrounding streets were 
filled with happy throngs. The village was even braver in 
bunting than its sister villages. Old Glory waved from 
countless windows, or was twined in various shapes across 
the house-fronts, while side by side with emblems carrying 
the mind back to the infancy of the country were banners 
bearing the portraits of Washington, Lincoln, and the Pres- 
ident of the hour, William H. Taft. So was the past linked 
visibly with the present, and the patriotism that looks with 
pride to a famous history joined with the living love and 
loyalty that are the truest presage of a future no less glorious. 

Mammoth tents pitched on the northern portion of the 
Common added their gay decorations to the swelling sym- 
phony of color. The largest of these, two hundred and fifty 
feet long, was to be used for the literary and musical features 
of the afternoon, while two more, each one hundred feet in 
length, were to house the multitudes at dinner. A smaller 
one nearby served as the headquarters of the caterer and his 
little army of assistants. Still another was occupied by the 
Bureau of Information. 

If the Man in the Moon had dropped down upon the 
scene at that early morning hour, he might well have felt 
some bewilderment as to the precise historical era on which 
he had lighted. In addition to the spectators, there were, 
to be sure, hundreds of school children, all excitement in 
anticipation of the coming parade, whose pretty attire was 
plainly that of the twentieth century. But there were many 
others who were to take part in the parade as Colonials, and 
their quaint garments contrasted strangely with the frills 



22 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

and gaudy ribbons of the present. The suggestion they 
afforded of Colonial days was heightened, too, by the pre- 
sence in the crowd of members of the Quabaug Tribe of Red 
Men, in full paint and feathers, whose part in the parade was 
overshadowed by the conspicuous role they were to play in 
the sham battle afterwards. Finally, the era of the Civil 
War was represented by the blue uniforms of the Grand Army 
veterans. Altogether it was a motley throng, whose endless 
variety added much to the charm of the spectacle. 

Soon after eight o'clock, the parade began to form, and 
the masterly way in which orderly arrangement was grad- 
ually wrought out of apparent chaos testified to the com- 
manding generalship of the chief marshal, Carlton D. Rich- 
ardson, and his aides. These were: Alfred C. Stoddard and 
John P. Ranger, of North Brookfield; Walter A. Putnam and 
I. Walter Moore, of Warren; Judge Henry E. Cottle and 
George A. Putney, of Brookfield; Charles S. Lane and Charles 
M. Daily, of New Braintree, and Robert Converse, John J. 
Mulvey, Dr. Windsor R. Smith, Martin Walsh and Alfred 
C. White, of West Brookfield. The parade formed at the 
north end of the Common, on School and North Main Streets, 
the line extending the entire length of School street and down 
North Main street to a point beyond the Town Hall. The 
following description of the procession, based upon a news- 
paper account of the celebration, preserves a vivid picture 
of the spectacle. 

The parade was headed by the Chief Marshal and his 
aides. Then came the Worcester Brass Band, followed by 
a coach trimmed in purple and white, driven by Leon H. 
Adams, and bearing the colors of the North Brookfield High 
School. The coach was followed by seventy-five North 
Brookfield High School pupils, led by William Mahoney, pres- 
ident of the senior class. Each pupil carried a purple and 
white banner. Then came two hundred pupils, dressed in 
white, of grades 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, North Brookfield public 
schools. The Brookfield High School Cadets, eighteen mem- 
bers, followed, under the command of Captain R. S. Clough, 



THE PARADE 23 

and behind them were 150 pupils of the graded schools of 
Brookfield, West Brookfield and New Braintree. 

Following the school children was a float representing 
the Merriam Public Library, of West Brookfield. It was in 
the form of a mammoth Webster's Dictionary, which work 
was originally published in West Brookfield, and on it rode 
B. S. Beeman and Harold Chesson, trustees of the library. 

The Ezra Batcheller Post, G. A. R., of North Brookfield, 
twenty-two members, followed, under Commander G. T. 
Webber, and next were the Sons of Veterans, of North Brook- 
field, under Captain Colby H. Johnson. 

Then came a carriage, in which rode Edward Haskins, 
Charles Allen and Joseph Malloy, selectmen of West Brook- 
field, and Town Clerk Dwight Fairbanks, of the same town. 

They were followed by the Holmes Steamer Company, 
of North Brookfield, forty-two men in uniform, under Chief 
Engineer Harold A. Foster, and behind them were two pieces 
of apparatus, the Holmes steamer, driven by John Mattoon, 
and the Ezra Batcheller Hook and Ladder truck, decorated 
in red, white, and blue, and driven by Eugene McCarthy. 

The Brookfield Fire Engineers came next, Edward F. 
Delaney, Albert H. Bellows and Robert G. Livermore, in a 
carriage, followed by Steamer Company No. 2, of Brook- 
field, eighteen men, and the steamer. The members of the 
company wore dark trousers, white shirts, and red, white 
and blue neckties, and carried canes. The steamer was driv- 
en by Eddie Whitney. 

After them came the West Brookfield Fire Department, 
twenty-two men, under command of Foreman John P. 
Cregan, and Fire Engineers George N. Sanford and George 
H. Boothby. The hand-tub "American," of West Brookfield, 
built in 1855, was driven by W. H. Bruce, while Henry W. 
Bartlett drove the Fullam Hook and Ladder truck, of West 
Brookfield. 

The Quabaug Corset Company's float, of West Brook- 
field, was driven by Nicholas Dickson. It was decorated in 
pink and blue, and carried twenty-six young women clad in 
white. 

Next was the float of the Oxford Linen Mills, of North 
Brookfield, decorated in drab and white. It was drawn by 
four handsome horses, one pair of which was owned by John 
J. Brosnihan, while the other was owned by Patrick Delargy, 
who acted as driver. 



24 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

This, in turn, was followed by the grocery float of Ed- 
son & Woodward, of West Brookfield, driven by Frederick 
L. Woodward, and bearing on its sides the inscription: " 1660- 
1910. Committee for the Celebration of the 300th Anniver- 
sary of the Settlement of Quabaug. " The "committee" 
consisted of a group of school children, dressed in white, 
pupils of the first and second grades of the public schools of 
West Brookfield, taught by Miss Alice J. White. (For the 
names of these children and the unusual record of their teach- 
er, see Appendix G.) 

The float of the Sikes Ice Company was driven by Alva 
Sikes. Behind it came a yoke of small steers drawing a min- 
iature ox- wagon loaded with vegetables and driven by W. S. 
Lincoln. Mrs. Homer B. Childs followed, driving a butter 
and tea wagon decorated with the national colors. 

Next was the float of the E. M. Converse grocery store, 
decorated with flags and bunting, and driven by Mr. 
Converse. The Alonzo Gilbert Grain Company's float was 
driven by Charles Tyler, and that of the White Sewing Ma- 
chine Company, decorated in tinsel and white, by Joel 
Richards. 

Then came the floats of the various Granges. That of 
the Quaboag Pomona Grange was decorated in white and 
gold, and carried twelve girls dressed in white. It was driven 
by Arlo P. Parker, of Brimfield. 

The float of the North Brookfield Grange was decorated 
in white and gold, with trimmings made of vegetables and 
fruits. It was driven by Albert L. Woodis and carried 
twelve members of the Grange. 

The float of the Brookfield Grange, driven by Elbert L. 
Bemis, carried fourteen members. That of the New Brain- 
tree Grange, decorated in white and gold, and driven by J. 
Arthur Barr, had thirteen passengers. 

The Warren Grange had a float driven by Charles E. 
Rice and Nathan E. Ball. It was trimmed with flags, bunt- 
ing and evergreen, and carried twelve women dressed in 
white. 

The float of the West Brookfield Grange had upon it a 
log cabin, in which was seated Keyes Cutler, eighty-eight 
years old, the oldest male resident of the town. The float 
was drawn by two yoke of oxen in charge of Asa Walker and 
Francis S. Beeman. The decorations were of evergreen. 
The Women's Degree team, of West Brookfield, had a 



THE PARADE 25 

float decorated in white and driven by Frank Bridges. 

A carriage decorated with flowers and containing mem- 
bers of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union came 
next, and was followed by a wagonette decorated in white, 
driven by E. D. Allen and containing members of the Dis- 
trict Nurses Association: Misses Margaret Blair, Marion 
Blodgett, Mary Campion, Susan Bill, Annie Fitzgerald, 
Marguerite Fales, Anna O'Day and Florence Benson. Next 
was a wagonette trimmed with red, white, and blue, and 
driven by Charles Simpson. It contained Irving Breed, 
Mrs. Henry Harper, Elsie Bemis, Evie Carlton and Flora 
Nelson, members of Friendship Lodge N. E. O. P., of Brook- 
field. 

The float of the Lashawa Tribe, I. O. R. M., of East 
Brookfield, followed. It was arranged to represent an Indian 
camp, with wigwam, tripod, kettle and forest scenery, and 
was driven by Paul Cummings. 

Behind it came the float of the Quaboag Tribe, I.O.R.M., 
of West Brookfield, driven by Arthur Cutler. Forty mem- 
bers of the tribe, in Indian dress and fully painted, accom- 
panied it, and were followed by twenty other members in 
white duck trousers and black coats and carrying canes. 

Next came a pony phaeton, drawn by a Shetland pony, 
the property of Charles Shepard, of Warren. In the phaeton 
were Charles Shepard, Ruth Shepard, Lenthal K. Shumway 
and Margaret N. Shumway, of Warren, dressed as Indian 
children, while A. E. Shumway, also in Indian costume, 
marched at the pony's head. 

The last float in the line was that of the J. A. White 
Overall Company, of North Brookfield. It was trimmed 
with purple and white asters and was driven by Edward 
Ledger, with thirty young women as passengers. 

The rear of the parade was brought up by a lumber 
wagon, containing an old bedstead and mattress, on which 
reclined J. P. Morgan, E. J. Ducy, and R. L. Gould, while 
placards attached to the sides of the wagon read: "Board of 
Trade," "Not Dead but Sleeping," "We Are Hustlers, 
What?" and "Oh— hum." Fastened behind the wagon 
was another containing a hogshead surmounted by an old 
iron pump. On the hogshead was a placard reading, " West 
Brookfield Water Works. Pulling the Plug." On this 
wagon rode Frederick Potter. 



26 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

Nine o'clock had hardly struck when, prompt almost to 
the advertised minute, the procession moved. The line of 
march was down Main Street to Cross street, thence to Ware 
street, on to Central street, and so back to Main street and 
around the Common. When the command was given to 
halt, the line extended in a loop from the Town Hall, around 
the entire circumference of the Common, back to the Town 
Hall, a distance of nearly a mile. The line countermarched 
around the small Common, and effected its disbanding with 
an entire absence of confusion or congestion at any point. 

III. The Pageant on Foster's Hill 

No sooner was the parade disbanded than the throngs of 
spectators began to stream across the fields and along the 
road leading to Foster's Hill, where was made the first settle- 
ment of white men in the Quabaug territory. Here the most 
elaborate spectacle of the day was to take place, namely, a 
mimic representation of the Indian attack upon the fortified 
block house, and its stubborn defense by the settlers and 
Captain Wheeler's soldiers, in 1675. Familiar as is the story 
of that most tragic chapter in the history of Brookfield, a 
brief survey of its leading features will help the reader to 
appreciate the significance of the drama played out there two 
hundred and thirty-five years later. 

It was in the spring of 1675 that the bloody struggle 
known as King Philip's War broke out. Early in the con- 
flict, the Quabaug Indians assumed a threatening aspect. 
In order to discover and thwart their plans and, if possible, 
to conclude with them a new treaty of peace, Captain Hutch- 
inson and Captain Wheeler, with a little body of soldiers and 
three Brookfield men, proceeded to a rendezvous near the 
head of Wickaboag Pond. This was on the second day of 
August. As the Indians, however, did not appear, the white 
men, in the hope of meeting them, marched two or three 
miles farther up the valley, toward King Philip's camp, which 




w 



THE PAGEANT ON FOSTER'S HILL 27 

was near the Indian villages. The wily savages, having thus 
drawn their victims into an ambush, suddenly set upon them. 
Several of the white men were slain, and the survivors, after 
a desperate rally, were driven back in disastrous rout. 

"Being got to the town," says Captain Wheeler in his 
famous narrative of the occurence, "we speedily betook our- 
selves to one of the largest and strongest houses therein, 
where we fortified ourselves in the best manner we could in 
such straits of time, and there resolved to keep garrison, 
though we were but few, and meanly 'fitted to make resis- 
tance against so furious enemies. The news of the Indians' 
treacherous dealing with us, and the loss of so many of our 
company thereby, did so amaze the inhabitants of the town, 
that they being informed thereof by us, presently left their 
houses, divers of them carrying very little away with them, 
they being afraid of the Indians sudden coming upon them; 
and so came to the house we were entered into, very meanly 
provided of clothing or furnished with provisions." The 
Indians were, indeed, hard on their heels, burning the de- 
serted houses as they came, slaughtering cattle, and destroy- 
ing whatever else their hands could find to wreak their fury 
on. In the siege that followed, several of the defenders were 
slain. Efforts were made by the Indians to burn the fortified 
house, and one of these attempts would have succeeded, but 
for a providential shower of rain. 

On the second day of the siege, as Wheeler tells us, many 
of the Indians "went to the town's meeting-house, (which 
was within twenty rods of the house in which we were), who 
mocked saying, come and pray, and sing psalms, and in con- 
tempt made an hideous noise somewhat resembling singing. " 
On the third day, "the Indians fortified themselves at the 
meeting-house, and the barn, belonging to our house. " The 
outcome could not much longer have been in doubt, had not 
Major Willard, unexpectedly arriving from the eastward 
with reinforcements, put the savages to flight. Says Cap- 
tain Wheeler: 



28 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

When they (the Indians) saw their divers designs unsuc- 
cessful and their hopes therein disappointed, they then fired 
the house and barn (wherein they had before kept to lie in 
wait to surprise any coming to us) that by the light thereof 
they might the better direct their shot at us, but no hurt was 
done thereby, praised be the Lord. And not long after they 
burnt the meeting-house wherein their fortifications were, 
as also the barn, which belonged to our house, and so per- 
ceiving more strength come to our assistance, they did, as 
we suppose, despair of effecting any more mischief against 
us. And therefore the greatest part of them, towards the 
breaking of the day, August the fifth, went away and left us, 
and we were quiet from any further molestations by them. 

Preparations for the representation of this stirring drama 
had been most carefully made. Chief Marshal Carlton D. 
Richardson played the role of Captain Hutchinson, while 
that of Captain Wheeler was taken by Walter A. Putnam, of 
Warren. The names of those who served as troopers under 
their command will be found in Appendix B. Alfred C. 
Stoddard, of North Brookfield, represented Major Willard, 
and his chief assistant, Judge Henry E. Cottle, of Brookfield, 
impersonated Captain Parker, of Groton. A list of those 
who acted as troopers under them is given in Appendix C. 

Willard's party was the first to leave West Brookfield 
village, at the close of the morning's parade, as this party 
was to ride by the new road to Brookfield, in order to make 
its historic dash from the eastward, over the summit of Fos- 
ter's Hill, to the rescue of the besieged settlers. 

Then those who were to take part, both men and women, 
as settlers (see Appendix D) stationed themselves in and 
around the rude structures that had been erected near the 
crest of the hill to represent the homes of the first inhabitants. 
The members of the Quabaug Tribe of Red Men, too, who 
were to participate in the pageant as Indian warriors, (see 
Appendix F) prepared for the fray. The main body of 
braves, on horseback, taking the main road toward Brook- 
field, turned in to the fields at the farm of Sumner H, Reed, 



THE PAGEANT ON FOSTER'S HILL 29 

and proceeded toward the top of the hill, whence, at the 
proper time, they could dash down upon the fortified house, 
which was erected on the old highway, close by the home of 
Carlton D. Richardson. They were under the command of 
Chiefs John J. Fitzgerald, David H. Robinson and William 
McCune, while a smaller body, on foot, under Chiefs Henry 
H. Flagg and Clarence W. S. Allen, made ready to trail the 
troopers under Captains Hutchinson and Wheeler up the 
old hill road, by which the whites were supposed to be re- 
treating from the rout above Wickaboag Pond. 

When all was in readiness, the horsemen under Carlton 
D. Richardson and Walter A. Putnam, representing respec- 
tively Hutchinson and Wheeler, left the village. At the foot 
of the hill, however, they encountered an unforeseen obstacle. 
The roadway and the bordering grass plats, from wall to wall, 
were crowded with a solid mass of people, afoot and in car- 
riages, slowly climbing to points of vantage higher up. The 
proposed wild gallop up the hill would have been, under the 
circumstances, not merely hazardous, but, for the moment, 
quite impossible. A glance behind revealed the stream of 
spectators extending backward into the village as far as the 
eye could reach. To delay until all these people had climbed 
the hill would be disastrous and have resulted, probably, in 
the rescuing party under Major Willard reaching the fortified 
house before the siege had begun. But Captain Hutchinson 
— that is to say, Chief Marshal Richardson — was equal to 
the occasion. At an order from him, the leaders of his party 
wheeled their horses across the road, interrupting the stream 
of spectators and holding those behind in check until those 
in front had advanced so far that it would be safe for the 
horsemen to begin their desperate flight up the hill. 

Another word from the commander, and the flight was 
on. As the troopers swept along, the savages, who were 
skulking behind trees and walls on either side of the road, 
fired their muskets. The volley was returned by the flying 
horsemen, and the battle was begun in earnest. From that 



30 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

moment until the pageant closed, there was scarcely a moment 
when the stricken air was silent. Terrified by the firing and 
the sight of the galloping horsemen, with the Red Men in 
pursuit, the settlers, hastily leaving their homes, fled with 
what speed they could, men, women and children, to the shel- 
ter of the fortified house and of the church hard by, while 
the Indians, closing in behind and pressing steadily on, paused 
in their shooting only long enough to set fire to the abandoned 
dwellings as they passed. Soon the lurid mass of flame and 
smoke ascending from the top of the hill must have presented 
from a distance a spectacle almost precisely similar to that 
of two hundred and thirty-five years before, while the shrieks 
of besieged and besiegers, rising above the cracking of mus- 
ketry, added much to the vividness of the presentation. 

By the time the last frightened settler had reached the 
comparative safety of the church and fort, a new terror was 
added by the sight of the main body of Indians, who now 
made their appearance, sweeping down across the field oppo- 
site, sheltering themselves behind Indian Rock, and showing 
unmistakably by their actions that they meant no less a mis- 
chief than an attack in force upon the two buildings within 
which the Quabaug folk had taken refuge. Thereupon, 
the church was hurriedly abandoned and the defense concen- 
trated within the stouter walls of the block-house. 

And now event followed event in swift succession, as 
within the space of a brief half-hour was played out the dra- 
ma that history prolonged over the course of three days. 
The Indians, despairing of taking the fortified house by im- 
mediate assault, drew closer the lines of the siege. Soon the 
whites, shut up within the fort, discovered to their dismay 
that the last drop of water was gone. To relieve their grow- 
ing distress from thirst, John P. Ranger, impersonating 
Major Wilson, crept forth from the house in an effort to 
reach the well. Chief Macuin, crouching behind Indian 
Rock, spied him, fired, and, as Wilson fell, cried out exult- 
antly, "Me kill Major Wilson!" 



THE PAGEANT ON FOSTER'S HILL 31 

Emboldened by this stroke of fortune, the Indians, who 
had been constantly drawing closer in around their prey, 
began a fresh attack from behind the stone wall across the 
road. Sumner H. Reed, in the role of a savage warrior, 
attempted to set fire to the house by shooting burning arrows. 
The effort failed, but it had served to inspire the Indians with 
a fresh idea. Seizing upon a load of hay that stood in the 
yard, they fired it, and, pushing the blazing mass against the 
building, tried in this way to burn the last remaining strong- 
hold of their victims. It was at this point that, as history 
relates, a sudden shower came to the rescue of the white men. 
But as history seldom, if ever, repeats itself, it was left, on 
the day of the pageant, for the settlers themselves to extin- 
guisg the flames through the heroic exertions of Captain 
Hutchinson and his little band of trusty followers. 

And now the last day of the siege was supposed to have 
arrived. The firing was well nigh incessant and the de- 
struction of the little garrison appeared imminent. Ima- 
ginary night drew on, and with its coming the last hopes of 
the settlers vanished. The Indians, sure now of their prey, 
grew bolder. But just as they were preparing to make the 
last fierce rush, that would undoubtedly have carried the 
fortification, they were startled by the sound of galloping 
horses. Before they could change their front, the body of 
rescuers under Major Willard and Captain Parker, imper- 
sonated by Alfred C. Stoddard and Judge Henry E. Cottle 
respectively, dashed in from the east, firing as they came. 
The main body of savages, perceiving themselves now over- 
matched in strength, wavered, broke, and fled across the 
mowing and over the hilltop whence they had descended. 
This flight of the Red Men afforded one of the most vivid 
touches in the whole pageant, as Major Willard's horsemen, 
pursuing with an impetuosity that had not been counted on, 
all but rode down some of the braves on foot, who scrambled 
over the last dividing wall with an extraordinary display of 
agility. 



32 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

Meanwhile, the smaller body of Indians, cheated of 
their prey, took what vengeance they could by setting fire 
to the church. Then, with a few parting shots, they retreated 
— not toward a wilderness, such as swallowed up their an- 
cestors in the far-off past, but toward the hospitable dinner 
tents erected in the modern village, whither, the day being 
saved and many a stomach testifjdng to the approach of noon, 
they were speedily followed by the victorious settlers and 
the vast throng of spectators. 

IV. The Dinner. 

The Joint Executive Committee in charge of the cele- 
bration had done everything within its power to ascertain 
in advance the number of persons who desire to be served at 
dinner in the tents. Notices had been enclosed with every 
invitation, and otherwise distributed, which contained the 
following paragraph, couched in no uncertain terms: "Every 
person receiving an invitation to attend this celebration will 
please promptly acknowledge its receipt, by mail, to the Sec- 
retary, or to some other member of the Executive Committee, 
plainly writing his or her name and address, in full, and state 
how many Dinner Tickets he or she may want reserved for 
himself or herself and family or friends, so that adequate 
provision may be made for all." To the failure of hundreds 
of people to comply with this request, and to this alone, is 
due the fact that adequate provision was not made. No 
suspicion of blame can justly attach to the Committee. The 
provision was ample, indeed, for a considerably greater num- 
ber than replied to the above notice, but not for so many as 
expected to be served, when the dinner hour arrived on the 
gala day. 

The records of the Committee show that 834 dinners 
were served, in addition to the lunches for the school children. 
The following excellent menu was prepared and served by 
Keith, of Warren, at $1 a plate: 



THE LITERARY AND MUSICAL PROGRAM 33 





Canteloupe 






Roast Turkey 






Cranberry Sauce 




Roast Beef 




Cold Ham 


Mashed Potatoes 


Squash 


Sliced Tomatoes 


Sliced Cucumbers 
Salmon Salad 


Celery 


Salad Rolls 


French Rolls 


Apple Pie 


Ice Cream 

Assorted Cakes 

Fruit 


Squash Pie 


Coffee 


Quabaug Spring Water 



The hotels and restaurants in West Brookfield did a 
thriving business, while scores of persons journeyed by trol- 
ley or automobile to neighboring towns for lunch. The 
most picturesque feature of the dinner hour, however, was 
furnished by the numerous family parties that enjoyed a 
picnic dinner seated on the grass beneath West Brookfield's 
magnificent shade trees. If not so well served as those 
within the dining tents, they had, at least, the advantage of 
being in the fresh air and of watching uninterruptedly the 
informal pageant afforded by the thousands of merry-makers. 

V. The Literary and Musical Programme. 

The great audience tent, easily accommodating two 
thousand persons, was filled to overflowing, when, at 1.30 
o'clock, the following literary and musical programme was 
begun : 

Invocation Rev. William L. Walsh, of Brookfield. 

Chorus "The Heavens Are Telling" 

("The Creation") Haydn. 

Address of Welcome 

Hon. Theodore C. Bates. 



34 



TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 



Oration 

Songs a. 

b. 



Address 
Chorus 

Address 

Chorus 

Address 

Address 

"America." 



Hon. Roger Foster, of New York. 
"Spring" Henschel. 

"Nightingale Aria" Masse. 

Mme. Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller. 
Flute obligato, Charles K. North. 
Accompanist, Mme. Maud Paradis-Lane 
His Excellency, Governor Eben S. Draper. 
"Hurrah for Old New England" 

Chamberlain. 
Hon. Frederick H. Gillett, M. C. 
"The Landing of the Pilgrims" Brown. 
Hon. Charles G. Washburn, M.C. 
Hon. James Logan, Mayor of Worcester. 



The special feature of the afternoon was, naturally, the 
oration by Hon. Roger Foster, nor did the orator disappoint 
the high expectations of his audience. "No man" — so runs 
the brief report of the proceedings, prepared by the Joint 
Executive Committee — "could have been found in the whole 
country, who could have better pleased our people, and his 
being a direct descendant of Judge Jedediah Foster, of Brook- 
field, made it seem to prominent men all over the State, that 
it was most fitting and appropriate that Roger Foster, Esq., 
should be the orator of the day on this occasion." 



Hon. Roger Foster 
His scholarly and eloquent oration follows. 




Hon. Roger Fosteb 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 35 

ADDRESS OF ROGER FOSTER OF NEW YORK AT 
BROOKFIELD ON SEPTEMBER 21, 1910. 

Let me thank you for the pleasure, as well as for the 
honor conferred upon me by your invitation to speak where 
my father spoke fifty years ago. It is a joy to me to have 
an opportunity to return to the old Bay State; to Worces- 
ter county, the heart of the commonwealth, where I was 
born; to my old home where I passed my boyhood; to the 
town of Brookfield, where my forefathers have lived; to 
Foster's Hill, where the name of my family is still remem- 
bered, although two generations have passed since they 
removed. 

Before considering the work of the settlers of Brook- 
field, let us honor the Puritans from whom they came; let 
us praise their courage and fortitude in facing danger and 
discomfort for the sake of founding a commonwealth where 
they and their children might worship in accordance with 
their own conscience and not be obliged to observe practi- 
ces which they considered to savor of idolatry. They left 
the homes of their fathers and severed the ties of kin and 
country. They incurred the perils and discomforts of un- 
known seas, where for two long months they were at the mer- 
cy of the winds without the aid of steam: to land upon an 
unknown and rocky coast unassisted by a chart, to settle 
upon a soil which they knew from the Plymouth pilgrims 
to be less fertile than that of their native country, and to 
undergo the rigors of a climate which, in summer as well as 
in winter, was far more oppressive than that of England. 
They risked imprisonment when they sailed. Several of 
their ships were embargoed, held against their will in the 
English ports. Some became discouraged and abandoned 
their enterprise. Even brave spirits then went back, 
amongst them Oliver Cromwell; but our forefathers persisted. 
And after the agony of voyages in small sail boats, with no 
fresh meat — preserved fruit and vegetables being then un- 



36 TWO HTJNDBED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

known — living on salt pork and hardtack, in badly ven- 
tilated quarters, suffering the untried tortures of seasickness 
and the danger of scurvy, at last they landed near Ipswich 
and founded the State to which we, their descendants, feel 
that we still belong, even those of us who now live in other 
parts of the country or of the world. They were a rugged 
race, strong in mind as well as in body, and their history has 
been the subject of much criticism as well as praise. 

Special objection has been made to their alleged relig- 
ious intolerance. And it is often said, that they should have 
given to others the liberty of conscience which they de- 
manded for themselves and have permitted throughout the 
Commonwealth the free exercise of all religions. It is easy 
for those who live in a time when the exercise of freedom of 
thought and speech in religious matters is never the subject 
of punishment, to condemn, in academic phrases, those who 
did not then permit religious liberty. It must be remem- 
bered, however, that unbridled abuse of those in command 
can never be permitted in a garrison during a siege nor upon 
a ship during a storm. The punishments which they imposed 
because of religious differences were not founded upon non- 
conformity nor upon free thought kept to itself. They 
punished those only who publicly attacked the form of wor- 
ship which the Puritans had emigrated to maintain. They 
were encompassed by hostile savages aided by the Catholic 
French. They were threatened in England by the power 
of the Church that was there established and which for gen- 
erations afterwards practiced religious persecution. Had 
they allowed the Church of England to maintain a footing 
in Massachusetts, inevitably but a short time would have 
elapsed before a bishop of that diocese would have been 
created and an ecclesiastical court established. Had they 
permitted their religious meetings to be disturbed by public 
attacks upon the doctrines which were promulgated, the 
consequent dissensions would have enfeebled them in then- 
defense against the attacks daily threatened by their hostile 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 37 

neighbors. We who have passed laws forbidding the immi- 
gration of anarchists and who have excluded from our coun- 
try Asiatics, should hesitate before we blame them for their 
endeavors to keep the land for the use of those who were in 
sympathy with the religious opinions of the first settlers. 
The traits of character which they brought here from 
England and those which were developed upon this soil, can 
be traced in most of their descendants. The power to resist 
equal severities of heat and cold, the patience and industry 
required to wring support out of a rocky soil, have developed 
in New Englanders a capacity for endurance and hard work 
which makes them succeed in any climate and under all cir- 
cumstances, no matter how adverse. The nervous strain 
of the climate and the necessity for continuous labor in order 
to earn a living, left them no time for those elaborate cour- 
tesies and polish of manners which do so much to soften the 
asperities of life, which are, almost invariably, the accom- 
paniment of a leisure class in any country and are practiced 
by all living in a warm climate. Their descendants as well 
as themselves are consequently justly criticised for coldness 
of manner and abruptness. And that love of truth, which 
is inculcated by the traditions of the Anglo-Saxon race, as 
well as by the Puritan religion, makes these, too, abstain from 
compliments. Their hatred of the adornment of cathedrals 
by pictures and statuary, which they considered brought 
about the worship of idols, and their dislike for the perform- 
ance of a ritual which tended to obscure the meaning of a 
prayer, gave them a prejudice against the fine arts and even 
a contempt for these, which still lingers among their children. 
Those of us who have reached middle age can still remember 
the time when a love of music was considered to be effemi- 
nate and men boasted of the fact that their acoustic organs 
were so deformed that they could not recognize a tune. New 
England has given birth to a few great singers, but they were 
women and have passed most of their lives in other States 
and countries. The greatest painter that was born in Mass- 



38 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

achusetts accomplished all his work in Europe. Architects 
wc have produced, for their work a practical man recognizes 
as useful, but of what sculptors or musical composers can 
we justly boast? The life of melancholy, enjoined by 
their religious precepts ever teaching them to dread the hor- 
rors of hell, enhanced by physical troubles due to insufficient 
knowledge of the laws of health and lack of prophylactics, 
made them fear lest they were committing wrong whenever 
they lingered in, or gave expression to, the pleasure derived 
from the enjoyment of the good things that have been 
created for this world. This was, moreover, heightened by 
a spiritual pride which has left even us of this twentieth 
century often ashamed or afraid to pluck the roses that are 
by our path. The fact that they were protesters among the 
Protestants, confident of their own judgment as to right and 
wrong and deeming it a duty to follow the dictates of their 
own consciences, has made the children of New England 
ready to brave public opinion in support of a cause that is 
unpopular and to sacrifice themselves for an ideal; qualities 
without which the progress of humanity is impossible, al- 
though, alas, too often accompanied by intolerance of the 
dissent of others. 

With the history of Brookfield you are better acquainted 
than am I. You have heard its traditions at the knees of 
your grandmothers. You have had the documents and the 
events explained to you by scholars on previous occasions. 
Yet now that two centuries and a half have passed since the 
foundation of the town, it has seemed fitting that you should 
be briefly reminded of them. 

It was founded at a time when the citizens of Mass- 
achusetts might well have looked towards the future with 
a terror that would have discouraged any attempt to extend 
the colony. In 1660, the republic in England had been de- 
stroyed. The monarchy had been restored. Those of the 
leaders in the Great Rebellion who survived, some of whom 
had lived in Massachusetts, were about to be punished by 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 



39 



executions, the disgusting horrors of Avhich make the imagi- 
nation revolt. The King of England was a pensioner of 
France, which was ruled by the Grand Monarch whose wars 
strengthened Catholicism and depressed the Protestants 
throughout the continent of Europe. He was already in 
possession of that part of Canada now known as Ontario 
and Quebec and had formed the design to include in his do- 
minions the whole of North America. The diplomacy and 
self-sacrifice of the Jesuits had given them such a power over 
the Indians in Canada that these, at any time, could be 
united in an attack upon Massachusetts. The Mississippi 
had not been discovered. No European had sailed on the 
Detroit River or even the Great Lakes beyond it. French 
explorers soon travelled in that direction, and within a few 
years Louis XIV again obtained control of Acadia on the 
northeast of New England, and upon the Island of Cape 
Britain build the fortress of Louisburg, which seriously 
threatened our fisheries and commerce. The inhabitants 
of New England had good cause to fear success in his at- 
tempts at conquest over them and their subjection to perse- 
cution by the Church of Rome. The Hudson River and 
Manhattan Island, together with that part of the Atlantic 
coast including what are now the States of New Jersey and 
Delaware, were under the control of the Dutch; and when, 
four years later, New York was acquired by England, 
Charles II granted it to his brother, who was a Catholic. 
Pennsylvania and Georgia had not been settled. The Pro- 
testants of Germany trembled before Louis and were unable 
to give any assistance to those of their religion in any other 
country. Poland was still unpartitioned and independent, a 
great Catholic power, one of the bulwarks of Christianity 
against the Turks; disputing with Russia for the ascend- 
ency of oriental Europe. 

At that time the first settlers in Brookfield came here 
from Ipswich in order that they might obtain more land for 
themselves and their children, since the pressure of popula- 



40 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

tion upon the coast had begunto make it more difficult for 
them to support their families. The selection of the place 
was due to reasons of state, as well as to those which lead a 
farmer to choose a home. There was need of a place of rest 
for travellers upon the trail between Massachusetts Bay and 
the Connecticut River, where already was situated the town 
of Springfield. Foster's Hill afforded a convenient location 
for such a post. The Indians of that neighborhood were 
Quaboags, a branch of the Nipmuck tribe, who seem to have 
been unconnected with any of the powerful leagues. They 
were consequently often the subjects of attack and oppres- 
sion by other savages ; and for that reason, if not because their 
minds were so cultivated as easily to appreciate his argu- 
ments, they listened to the sermons of the Apostle Eliot and 
were not indisposed to an alliance with the whites. A " pray- 
ing town" of Indians had shortly before been established by 
him in the neighborhood. The adjoining valley seemed to 
offer good opportunities for agriculture. It had been used 
by the aborigines to raise their corn and for a meeting-place to 
celebrate their yearly festivals. The bottoms were good pas- 
tures. The primeval forest had been long destroyed by the 
autumnal fires of the natives. Horseback travel was prac- 
ticable in all directions. There was plenty of timber in the 
swamps and on the heights. Deer and turkeys abounded 
around the hills, whence they could be seen a mile away. 
Cattle were within sight of the hilltops at a distance of three 
miles. The Quaboag River was full of shad and salmon at 
the proper seasons. Trout, hornpout, perch, pickerel and 
other fish filled the streams and ponds throughout the year. 
Yet it required bold hearts to make the move. There 
was no white settlement within thirty miles. Springfield 
was the nearest place from which the help, often sorely 
needed, could be obtained. Lancaster was the next village 
on the east. Worcester was then a swamp and the woods 
covered Leicester hills. Wolves and bears lurked around 
them. Rattlesnakes coiled in the rocks. Tribes of the 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 41 

pagans often made raids in the neighborhood and the tem- 
per of the praying Indians had not long been tested. 

About May 20th, 1660, several of the inhabitants of 
Ipswich presented a petition to the General Court, as is still 
the official title of the legislature of Massachusetts. This 
recited: 

"Forasmuch as it is found by Dayly experience 
"that the common Lands of this Towne are overburdened 
"by the multiplying dwelling houses contrary to the true 
"intent and meaning of the first Inhabitants in their 
" granting of house lotts and other lands to such as came 
"amongst them, to the end such inconvenience may be pre- 
sented — " and prayed a land grant. On May 31st, the 
General Court made the following grant, described in the 
margin of the public record as "Ipswich New Plantation." 
"At a Great and General Court of Election held at 
"Boston the 20th of May, 1660. 

"In Ans r to the peticon of severall the Inhabitants 
"of Ipswich, this Court Judgeth it meete to Graunt the 
"petitioners sixe miles square or so much land as shall be 
' Contejned in such a Compasse in a place nere Quoboag 
"ponds, provided they have twenty family es there resi- 
dent within 3 years, & that they have an able minister 
"settled there within the sajd terme, such as this Court 
"shall approve, and that they make due provision in 
"some way or other for the future, either by setting apart 
"of land, or what else shall be thought meete for the Con- 
tinuance of the ministry amongst them: And that 
"If they shall faile in any of these particulars above men- 
"tioned, this Graunt of the Court to be voyd & of none 
. "effect." 

In the summer of that year John Warner, John Ayres, 
William Prichard, and perhaps another of the petitioners 
went to Quabaug to select the place for the new settlement 
and chose Foster's Hill as the site of the village. A raid by 
the Moheegans upon the Quabaugs in the spring of 1661 



42 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

prevented further progress till 1665, when three or four fami- 
lies moved there and steps were taken to acquire peaceably 
a title from the Indians. A bargain was made on behalf of 
the settlers by Lieutenant Thomas Cooper of Springfield. 
He bought Foster's Hill, all the valuable meadow lands with- 
in the six mile square and the greater part of the other land 
there, excepting two Indian villages with their appurtenant 
fisheries and planting ground, for the sum of 300 fathoms of 
wampampeage, Indian money composed of beads of white 
sea-shell, 360 pieces in a fathom, worth five shillings a fath- 
om; the price for the land aggregating £7.5, about $3(35. 
Considering that the whole of Manhattan Island was bought 
in the year 1626 for only twenty-four dollars, the sum seems 
not inadequate. The grantor was Shattoockquis, an Indian 
chief, who subscribed as his mark the sign of a beaver. 
"Mettawomppe an Indian witness who challenging some 
"interest in the land above sold received part of ye pay 
"and consented to the sale of it all," also subscribed a 
sign resembling in part a rattlesnake. The instrument was 
acknowledged before John Pynchon, Assistant. Eight 
years afterwards, another Indian made a claim for part of the 
land covered by the grant and proceedings were instituted 
for an amicable settlement with him. The interest acquired 
by the deed was not formally transferred to the settlers 
until 1673. The limitation of three years contained in the 
proviso by the General Court had expired before the Indian's 
deed, and the few families who had settled there petitioned 
for the security of their title. On May 15th, 1667, it was 
resolved: "In Ans r to the petition of the inhabitants at 
" Quabaug : This Court, having perused the grant which the 
"Generall Court made anno 1660 to the first undertakers 
"for that place, doe finde that 1. By their non observance 
"of the condition of their grant, the same is altogether 
"voyd, & that now the ordering & disposing thereof is 
"wholly in this Court's power. 2. Considering that 
"there is already at Quabauge about sixe or seven family es 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 



43 



"& that the place may be capable of receiving many more, 
"this Court will readily grant them the liberty of atoune- 
"ship when they shall be in a ffit capacity. 3. In the 
"meane time this Court appoints Cap. John Pinchon, John 
"Aires, W m Prichard, Richard Coy & John Younglow 
"or any three of them, whereof Capt. Pinchon to be one 
" of the three, who shall have power to admitt inhabitants, 
"grant lands, & to order all the prudentiall affayres of the 
"place in all respects, untill it shall appeare that the place 
"shall be so farr settled with able men as this Court may 
"judge meete to give them the full liberty of a touneship 
"according to lawe. 4. Because the inhabitants of 
"Ipswich made the first motion for that plantation, & 
"some of them have binn at charges about it, although 
"by their remisse prosecution they have now lost all their 
" right, yet, such of them as shall setle there by midsummer 
"come twelve moneth, they shall have an interest in the 
"lands there in proportion with others; but if by that time 
"they shall not be there setled, they shall then loose their 
"lands, & all their charges which they have been at upon 
"y e place. 5. They are to take care for the getting & 
"mayntayning of a godly minister among them, & that 
"no evill persons, enemjes to the lawe of this commonweale 
"in judgment or practise, be receaved as inhabitants. 
"6. For promoting of the aforesajd plantation, & incou- 
"ragement thereof, this Court doeth now grant that plan- 
tation seven yeares freedom from all publick rates & 
"taxes to the country, provided those inhabitants of 
"Ipswich which intend to inhabit at Quabauge by mid- 
" summer come twelve month doe engage to give security 
"to the above-sajd committee, within three moneths after 
"the date hereofe that they will performe accordingly, that 
"so others that would settle there may not be hindred." 
All of the committee thus appointed were residents of 
the settlement, with the exception of Captain John Pynchon 
of Springfield, who was usually known by his later titles of 



44 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

major and colonel. He was the first patron and protector 
of the town. Without his aid undoubtedly it would have 
perished. As the leaders of the community in subsequent 
generations were among his descendants, a few words con- 
cerning him and his family seem not to be out of place. He 
was born in Springfield, England, in 1621, the son of the 
founder of the city in Massachusetts, the name of which in 
1640 was changed from Agawam to Springfield as a com- 
pliment to William Pynchon, who in accordance with the 
wishes of its inhabitants was appointed by the General 
Court its magistrate with full judicial powers. The latter is 
famous in the history of Massachusetts, not only for his fair- 
ness and diplomacy in negotiations with the Indians, but also 
for the liberality of his theology. In 1650, he published in 
London a book entitled "The Meritorious Price of our Re- 
demption, " which was so opposed to New England Calvinism 
that it received the compliment of being burned by the public 
executioner on Boston Common. He wrote other books in 
a similar vein, one of which also advocated a liberal obser- 
vance of Sunday. He had too much influence to be molested 
by the divines, although it was probably by reason of his 
antagonism to them that he moved from Boston to the Con- 
necticut River in 1636 and that in 1652 he returned to Eng- 
land, leaving in the colony his son John and his son-in-law 
Elizur Holyoke. In the following year, they and Samuel 
Chapin were appointed by the General Court, magistrates in 
charge of the government of Springfield. Colonel John 
Pynchon also succeeded his father in the confidence of the 
Indians, whom he managed with great diplomacy. He was 
known as "The worshipful Colonel Pynchon," and founded 
on land bought from the natives Northampton, Hadley, 
Deerfield, Northfield and Westfield. In 1660, he built the 
first brick building in Springfield, which was in existence as 
late as 1831. It was bullet proof, and during King Philip's 
War saved the inhabitants from massacre by the Indians. 
He was assistant to the governor of the province and member 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 45 

of his council for almost thirty years, holding the latter 
office until- his death in 1703. 

According to the book kept by Pynchon as recorder, of 
which a few attested extracts still remain, homesteads were 
allotted upon Foster's Hill and allotments also made of up- 
land meadow and plain. A large common of undivided land 
was used for wood and pasturage. A flour mill was built 
by him on the east branch of the brook entering the head of 
Weakaug pond. There was some sort of a meeting house 
where John Younglove preached until the first settlement 
was destroyed. The most important industry of the new 
settlement was the tavern kept by Sargeant Ayres for the 
use of travelers. 

On October 10th, 1673, the inhabitants petitioned 
"that this much Honno rd Co rte would be pleased to grant 
" us the Priviledge & libertyes of a Township whereby we 
"may be the better inabled to carry on our owne matters 
"w th out too much distraction. And yo r Petition 1-8 shall 
"ever pray for yo r prosperity If Yo r Honno 1 " 8 please let 
"y e Name of y e Place be Brookfeild." 

Mayor Pynchon also wrote: "I have long desyred to 
"be discharged from being one of the Committee for 
"Qvabaug: in regard to my many occasions & remote- 
"ness having bin little serviceable to y 331 : I doe vtterly 
"decline y e worke, & desire their motion for being allowed 
"a Towne may be accepted & granted by y e Honored 
"Court, hoping it may p r ve beneficial to them and the 
"Publike." 

"In ans r to y e peticon of the Inhabitants of Quabaug 
"The Court Judgeth it meet to grant their request i. e. 
"the liberty and priviledge of a Township and that the 
"name thereof be Brookfeild Provided they Divide not the 
"whole land of the Towneship till they be forty or fivety 
"familyes, in the meane tjme that their Dividings one to 
"another exceed not two hundred acres apeece to any 
"present Inhabitant." 



46 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

The county records show signs of the spread of civilizar 
tion and increase of prosperity. In 1675, Brookfield was 
taxed £5-0-6 and upon this was a credit of £5 for killing ten 
wolves. On March 30th of the same year, "Thomas Wilson 
"of Brookfield was presented by the grand jury for cursing 
"Samuel Warner of the same town. And the town of 
"Brookfield was presented for defect in the bridge over 
"the swamp at Richard Coy's Son; and for the want of 
"a common pound." 
These indictments were never tried. The work of the 
first settlers was soon destroyed. In that year began King 
Philip's war. So friendly had been the relations between the 
Quabaugs and the inhabitants of Brookfield that the latter 
believed those Indians would give Philip no assistance. The 
Quabaugs planted their cornfields as usual and their chief 
disclaimed in writing any intention to help that king. Two 
reports, however, made by Ephraim Curtis of Sudbury, 
showed that there was danger of a disturbance among them, 
and for that reason Captains Edward Hodgkinson and 
Thomas Wheeler of Concord and Curtis as guide and inter- 
preter, were sent with a party of about twenty horsemen to 
demand an account of the Nipmuck Indians of certain 
grievances: u so desiring the Lord's presence with you & in 
"prosecution of this affayre if you should meet with any 
"Indians that stand in opposition to you or declare ym- 
" selves to be yor enemies then you are ordered to ingage 
"with them if you see reason for it & endeavr to reduce ym 
"by force of Arms." The Indians promised to meet the 
troop for negotiations upon a plain within three miles of 
Brookfield on August 2nd. Three men of Brookfield accom- 
panied the soldiers to the appointed place, but the Indians 
did not appear there. By the advice of the Brookfield men, 
who had such confidence in the peaceful intentions of the 
Quabaugs that they came unarmed, the colonists proceeded 
to a swamp where they heard that the Indians were. The 
place has been identified by antiquarians as a ravine near 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 47 

Meminimissimet meadow and the line between New Brain- 
tree and Brookfield upon the old Pepper farm, not far from 
the comer of the Boston and Worcester road, which, within 
the memory of a recent generation, was known as "Death 
Valley." The way was so bad that the English could only 
march in single file between a rocky hill on the right and a 
thick swamp in which there were about two hundred Indians; 
some in the morass, the rest in the brush upon the hill. The 
soldiers had not proceeded more than seventy rods when they 
were surprised by volleys of musketry from both sides of 
them. More than a third of their number, eight including 
Sargeant Ayres, Sargeant Pritchard and Corporal Coy, the 
inhabitants of Brookfield, were killed. Five more were 
wounded. One of their Indian guides was captured. The 
escape of the rest was due to the fidelity and sagacity of the 
other two guides, who took them back to Brookfield on a 
by-trail avoiding the woods, with the warning that the road 
by which they came would be lined with sharpshooters, in 
accordance with the Indian art of war. This was the first 
victory by the Indians over white soldiers in New England 
and greatly encouraged them in the war. The refugees, who 
carried the wounded with them on their horses, and the rest 
of the inhabitants, gathered in the tavern of Sargeant Ayres. 
There, in no more than four rooms, protected only by wooden 
walls fortified with nothing but feather beds and a few logs, 
eighty-two men, women and children withstood a siege by 
several hundred Indians for three days. The horrors they 
underwent, it is impossible adequately to describe, or, in the 
conditions under which we live, fully to appreciate. It was 
in the heat of the dog days. They were closely packed to- 
gether with little ventilation except the holes made by the 
bullets that were fired through the house. Without medical 
aid or sanitary conveniences, seven wounded men, two on the 
point of death, were nursed, and two women delivered from 
the pangs of labor. Food was scanty. The water needed to 
slake their thirst had to be used to put out the repeated fires 



48 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

set in the roof and walls by burning rags soaked with brim- 
stone and shot with arrows, by balls of "wildfire," by stacks 
of their own flax and hay piled against the house and burned, 
a fire cart and by two fire wagons with shafts extending fourteen 
rods in length built by the Indians. A fresh supply could 
only be obtained from a well in the yard, to reach which 
exposed a man to more danger than was risked by the three 
followers of David who brought him water from the well 
outside the gate of Bethlehem. "Abroad in the yard, one 
"Thomas Wilson of that town, being sent to fetch water 
"for our help in further need, (that which we had being 
"spent in putting out the fire) was shot by the enemy in 
"the upper jaw and neck, the anguish of which wound was 
"such at the first that he cried out with a great noise, by 
"reason whereof the Indians hearing him rejoiced, and 
"triumphed at it; but his wound was healed in a short time, 
"praised be God. There was but one man wounded 
"within the house, viz: — the said Henry Young, who 
"looking out of the garret window that evening, was mor- 
" tally wounded by a shot, of which wound he died within 
"two days after. There was the same day another man 
"slain, but not in the house; a son of Serjeant Pritchard's 
"adventuring out of the house wherein we were, to his 
"father's house not far from it, to fetch more goods out of 
"it, was caught by these cruel enemies as they were com- 
"ing towards us, who cut off his head, kicking it about 
" like a football, and then putting it upon a pole, they set 
"it up before the door of his father's house in our sight. 
"The night following the said blow, they did roar against 
"us like so many wild bulls, sending in their shot amongst 
"us till towards the moon rising, which was about three of 
"the clock; at which time they attempted to fire our 
"house." 
The belief, that they were God's chosen people and that 
He would suspend the laws of nature by special providences 
in their defense then, as it always has among adherents to 




o 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 49 

that faith, gave great courage to the garrison. A summer 
rain which they believed to be a token of divine favor helped 
quench the flames. When some were obliged to venture 
out to stop a fire, Simon Davis, one of three in charge as 
substitutes for the two wounded captains, encouraged them 
as well as those firing upon the Indians from within by shout- 
ing "'God is with us, and fights for us, and will deliver us 
; out of the hands of these heathen ' ; which expressions the 
Indians hearing, they shouted and scoffed, saying: 'now 
'we see how your God delivers you, or will deliver you,' 
'sending in many shots whilst our men were putting out 
' the fire. But the Lord of Hosts wrought very graciously 
: for us, in preserving our bodies both within and without 
the house from their shot, and our house from being 
consumed by fire, we had but two men wounded in that 
attempt of theirs, but we apprehended that we killed 
divers of our enemies. The next day being August 3d, 
they continued shooting and shouting, and proceeded 
in their former wickedness, blaspheming the name of 
'the Lord and reproaching us, his afflicted servants, scof- 
fing at our prayers as they were sending in their shot 
upon all quarters of the house and many of them went 
'to the town's meeting house (which was within twenty 
' rods of the house in which we were) who mocked saying, 
come and pray and sing psalms, and in contempt made 
an hideous noise somewhat resembling singing. But 
' we, to our power, did endeavour our defence, sending our 
shot amongst them, the Lord giving us courage to resist 
; them and preserving us from the destruction they sought 
'to bring upon us." This reads like a passage from the 
Book of Samuel. Can it be that, when the pious Captain 
Wheeler wrote the narrative a few months later, after his 
recovery from his wound, his memory was affected by his 
daily reading of the Scriptures? 

On August 4th, the Indians were driven off by Major 
Willard with a troup of forty-seven white men and five 



50 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

Indians. They, while on a march to repel an attack threat- 
ened further west, heard at Marlboro the news of the danger 
at Brookfield, which had come from travellers who had seen 
the flames or heard the shots. The rescue arrived an hour 
after dark while the Indians were engaged upon their fire 
engines. When Willard forced his way to the house there 
was danger of a fight between his men and those rescued, 
since, in the darkness, each thought the other party was 
composed of Indians, he not knowing that any white men 
had escaped. And they were on the point of firing upon 
each other until the major gave a command in English. 
Captain Wheeler then ordered the trumpet to be sounded 
and all fired in the direction of the enemy. The cattle had 
followed Major Willard's horsemen to the house and in the 
darkness made their number seem much larger. This fright- 
ened the savages, who fled after they had set fire to the only 
remaining houses and barns, except the tavern. 

The first settlement was ended. The survivors of the 
original inhabitants moved with the little property that they 
had left; mostly back to the towns from which they came; 
in a few cases to other parts of the colony, where they were 
for some time the objects of public and private charity. 
"The English were not in a capacity to look after Their 
"dead but those dead bodies were left as meat to the Fowls 
"of heaven, and their flesh unto the Beasts of the earth, 
" and there was none to bury them. " After this abandon- 
ment the tavern was burned by the Indians, of whom some 
had lurked about the ruins and wounded one of the men 
looking for horses. 

But the outpost was of too great value to be permanently 
abandoned. The trail between the bay and the great river 
must be protected. It was also important that travellers 
should have a resting place where they could obtain refresh- 
ment. Although for a short time the garrison was broken 
up by the recall of Major Willard, a few months later it was 
re-established in temporary quarters; but only one of the 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 51 

old families, that of Sergeant Ayres, ever returned. The 
fields lay waste for nearly ten years. Gradually, however, 
a few young men from the neighboring towns and soldiers 
who had seen the advantages of the situation while in garri- 
son or on the march, began to form another settlement. 

In 1686, James Ford, a soldier, petitioned the General 
Court "to appoint and impower some prudent and able 
"persons as a Committee to admit Inhabitants, and order 
"the Affaires of the place, in forming y e Towne, granting 
"Lotts, & directing & ordering all matters of a prudential 
"Nature till such time the Place be settled, and a compe- 
"tent number of Inhabitants & persons of discretion to 
"order the affaires thereof. " His preamble said: that the 
ancient inhabitants had wholly deserted Brookfield but 
that "some are already seated and others would be willing 
"to settle the said place againe were there some encourage- 
"ment from the Hon l Council, and some to guide & order 
"the prudential Affaires for such a Plantation. " He sug- 
gested as members of a committee, the names of four of the 
former settlers, including Pastor Younglove. But the au- 
thorities in Boston did not have confidence in their discre- 
tion. On November 9th, the Council appointed Major 
John Pynchon and five other citizens of Springfield "a Com- 
"mittee for the settling of the town of Quabaug, & the 
"Petition of the said Town is granted, and the aforenamed 
"Gentlemen are to receive the claimes of the old Inhabi- 
tants, grant Lotts to others, & give necessary orders for 
" the more orderly settlement of the said Towne. " Under 
Pynchon's care, the settlement was again placed where it 
remained until his death in 1703, when his son John, who was 
also a colonel and a judge, succeeded him. It remained in 
charge of a committee for twenty-two years. During that 
time its chief importance was for the purposes of a garrison. 
The land grants were conditioned upon the settlement and 
the continuance of the grantees there for specified periods. 
The inhabitants were in great distress from attacks by the 



52 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

Indians, the continued terror that these inspired and the 
difficulty in supporting themselves. In August, 1688, the 
news of the murder by Indians, some of them Quabaugs, of 
three men, two women and a girl of fifteen at Northfield, 
so terrified the Brookfield settlers that they prepared to 
abandon the place. They were prevented by Major Pynch- 
on, who sent six soldiers "ordering and requiring their con- 
"tinuance, only I sent to fetch off such women as desired 
"to come away. " His account book shows that, at differ- 
ent times, he sent them provisions and guns as well as rein- 
forcements, and that in September of the same year he sent 
men who were occupied about five days in building a forti- 
fication containing barracks sufficient to house all the in- 
habitants in case of danger and surrounded by a stock- 
ade. This saved many lives. In 1693, a band of about 
forty Indians from Canada or Northern New York lay in 
ambush for six days at a distance from this fort and then 
suddenly attacked three of the outlying families. They 
killed Thomas Lawrence, Joseph Mason with his eldest boy 
and Joseph Woolcot's wife and two daughters. Woolcot's 
family had accompanied him to his work, since the women 
feared to be alone. They found, when they returned for 
dinner, that the Indians had been in the house and had stolen 
his gun and other property. Shortly afterwards, they saw, 
at some distance, a savage approaching. Joseph immediately 
sent his wife and girls to hide in the bushes. Then taking 
his little son under one arm and his broad axe in the other, he 
went out with his dog against the enemy. The dog's attack 
was so fierce that the Indian was obliged to shoot at him. 
Woolcot then put the child down and chased the Pagan, who 
loaded while running, until he heard the bullet roll down the 
gun. He then turned back, snatched his child and escaped 
to the swamps, where he was concealed until able to make 
his way to the fort and warn the garrison which consisted 
of only five men. His wife lost control of her nerves and 
shrieked from her hiding place until she was caught, and 



HON. SOGER FOSTER 53 

with her daughters killed by the same Indian. The Mason 
family were attacked at dinner. After the man and boy 
were killed, the woman and an infant, together with Daniel 
Lawrence, a youth of eighteen, were carried off by the In- 
dians, who, after a journey of about ten miles, found the 
baby an encumbrance and knocked it on the head. John 
Lawrence meanwhile had applied to Major Pynchon for 
help. The major, himself then too old for active service, 
sent to aid the garrison Captain Colton at the head of a troup 
of thirty horsemen, which, on its way, was enlarged by vol- 
unteers. The Captain left sixteen to protect the town and 
on July 29th, two days after the attack, at the head of forty- 
two, started in pursuit. They followed the tracks of the 
savages through the long grass, finding the body of the baby 
and horses killed during the flight. On that day the troopers 
covered about thirty-seven miles and reached the place where 
the enemy had lodged the second night finding the camp 
fires still burning. The ground beyond was impassable for 
horses because of swamps, rocks and brush. Captain Colton 
with twenty-three picked men, leaving the rest behind, 
"lightening themselves of their coats and without Victuals 
"hastened away that if possible they might come upon the 
"Indians before — or discover them in the — Night;" but 
after a march of about eight miles he was forced by the dark- 
ness to camp without food or protection against the damp. 
At dawn, he continued his pursuit about a mile and a half, 
when, about sunrise, he discovered the enemy in a thick 
wood, hearing them laughing while not more than three or 
four rods away. With the ten in his van, he surrounded the 
enemy, four times their number, hiding his troopers behind 
bushes which they cut. The ten then fired upon forty armed 
savages; and the remaining thirteen, hearing the volley, 
charged and also fired at such as they could see. The 
Indians ran leaving their two captives with their ammunition, 
most of their guns, tomahawks and cutlasses. About seven 
savages were killed. Others were wounded, but escaped. 



54 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

None of the rescued was injured. What act of heroism has 
excelled the courage shown by Captain Colton and his 
followers in this pursuit? 

The settlers asked the advice of Major Pynchon whether 
they should remain or abandon their homes. He persuaded 
them to stay and obtained a reinforcement by the addition 
of eight or ten soldiers to the garrison. In the following- 
year, John Lawrence, whose family had suffered in the pre- 
vious attack, with Samuel Owen, was killed by Indians while 
in the woods searching for a man who was missing. During 
Queen Anne's war, in 1708, when John Woolcott, a boy of 
about twelve, was riding in search of cows, the Indians fired 
at him and took him prisoner. There were then, besides 
Gilbert's Fort, several fortified houses in Brookfield: one, 
known as Jenning's Garrison, on Foster's Hill, near the site 
of the Ayres Tavern; another, Bannister Garrison, on the 
old road between what is now the village of South Brookfield 
and the Woolcott House. Marks' Garrison had also been 
built near the southwest end of Wickaboag pond on a knoll 
below the Quabaug River. Goss Garrison stood west of 
Wickaboag pond near the house once occupied by Isaac 
Gleason and later by Charles H. Fairbanks. All these seem 
to have been constructed between 1704 and 1706. They 
were merely bullet proof houses with heavy wooden frames, 
linings of logs or planks and occasionally a few bricks, heavy 
plank doors and window shutters that could be closed from 
within. When those in Jenning's Garrison heard the shots 
at the boy, they concluded that Bannister's Garrison was 
attacked and six men went out for assistance; but were way- 
laid by the Indians. There was no safety in retreat. Abijah 
Bartlett, who took to his heels, was shot dead. The other 
five, strengthened by the current belief that an Indian could 
not look an Englishman in the face and take a right aim, 
stood their ground; presenting their pieces, without firing, 
whenever they saw a heathen. The savages kept shooting 
and wounded three. They were saved by the approach of 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 55 

a large dog, attracted by the noise, which he thought indi- 
cated a hunt. One, to encourage his friends and frighten 
the Indians, called out: "Captain Williams is come to help 
us. See his dog." This frightened away the enemy, who 
had a wholesome respect for Williams and believed that he 
had brought reinforcements. The Woolcott boy was carried 
back with them to Canada, where he remained six or seven 
years, learned the Indian language and was so satisfied with 
his treatment that, after the peace, he was for some time 
unwilling to return. During the same war, in 1706, the 
widow Mcintosh, together with Judah Trumble of Suffield, 
was shot and killed while she was milking. Thomas Battis 
was killed near the site of Belcher Town. And in August, 
1709, John Clary of Brookfield and Robert Grainger of 
Suffield were killed by Indians while walking along the 
Brookfield road. 

You are all familiar with the massacre of the six men who 
were making hay in the meadow on July 22nd, 1710. The 
story of one of them, John White, whom they had taken 
prisoner and who was shot while trying to escape, has been 
described in verse by the graceful pen of Miss Frances Bart- 
lett. This was the last calamity of war that befell the town. 
The discipline which the inhabitants received during those 
times that tried their souls and the traditions of the courage 
which they then displayed, moulded the character of the 
succeeding generations, so that the men of Brookfield have 
always been not only willing but able to render their country 
great service in every later war. Let us honor the men who, 
during those troublous times, protected the path between the 
river and the bay. 

But let us give greater honor to the women of Brookfield. 
They underwent severer hardship and did more work than 
the men. They discharged their household tasks. They 
attended to the dairy, the weeding and other incidental 
labors of the farm, which are more fatiguing than the plow; 
without the excitement of the trap, fishing and the hunt. 



56 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

For many years, they nursed the sick without the aid of a 
physician. They had no time for nervous prostration, nor 
to be troubled by the question whether their characters were 
thoroughly understood by their husbands. They bore and 
reared large families of children, whose ministrations were 
the comfort of their old age. One, who was alive when the 
haymakers were killed, survived until after the Revolution 
to the age of ninety-one. She had then two hundred and 
thirty-two living descendants : children, grandchildren, great- 
grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren and great-great- 
great-grandchildren, all of whom down to the fifth generation 
arose and called her blessed. The Brookfield women in- 
curred the same dangers as the men, with equal or greater 
fortitude. One was killed by Indians while attending to the 
cows. When the savages threatened the feebly fortified 
house where the wife of Joseph Marks was alone, she donned 
her husband's great coat, wig and hat and with his gun 
patrolled the roof, calling. "All's well, all's well," until she 
saved the building with the town's ammunition and supplies 
by frightening them away in the belief that the garrison was 
there. 

During those "August days, whose grim renown, 
A hallowed spot this crumbling hill has made;" 
when eighty-two were besieged for three days, crowded to- 
gether in four small rooms; with water scarce and not even 
the crudest sanitary conveniences; with no medical care; 
six wounded men to nurse, some of them dying; bullets flying 
through the walls and the roof often on fire; the head of one 
of their murdered neighbors on a pole under the windows; 
their houses burning around them ; two wives gave birth each 
to strong twin boys and in less than a month's time carried 
them on foot to Boston. 

In 1693, savages from Canada killed Joseph Mason and 
his older boy with others before his wife and carried her away 
with a babe in her arms, taking also Daniel Lawrence, a 
youth of about eighteen. After a ten-mile march, finding 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 57 

the child an encumbrance, they killed it before the mother's 
eyes, and abandoning its body traveled three days with the 
two prisoners, nearly fifty miles through the wilderness, until 
the rescue by the soldiers sent by Colonel Pynchon. These 
found the young man "tired, amazed and dull," but the 
woman's spirit was unquenched. She said: "They were 
"cowardly afraid to meddle with her; that if she had any 
"weapons she thinks she might have made her escape." 
The shock of her bereavement and the pains of the journey 
had not kept her from employing her time in acquiring and 
memorizing information that could aid her and her friends. 
And all this she told her rescuers. They reported her as 
"a trusty and intelligent woman." 

Margaret Otis and her mother, when the child was three 
months old, were carried to Canada by Indians who killed her 
father and sister in an attack on Dover, where she lived in 
1689. She was educated in the Roman Catholic faith and 
at the age of sixteen married a Frenchman, Le Beau. When 
she was about twenty, he died, leaving her with three chil- 
dren. In 1714, Captain Thomas Baker came to Canada with 
a party to redeem the prisoners who had been carried there 
during the last quarter of a century. He was then the rich- 
est citizen of Brookfield, a large land owner, and when the 
meeting house was built bought the best pew. He was its 
first representative in the Legislature, its only representative 
until the election of Joseph Dwight twelve years after Baker's 
term. When he met her, Captain Baker was about thirty- 
two and had had a distinguished military career, during 
which he had been captured; twice recaptured after two 
escapes; preparations for his burning made by the Indians; 
ransomed by a Frenchman, who paid five pounds to save 
him from the fire, and on his third escape, with three others, 
reached home half starved through the wilderness, after a 
journey without gun or provisions, fed only by roots, nuts, 
buds, bark and such small beasts as could be killed with 
stones and sticks. The priests told the English prisoners 



58 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

stories, some of them probably not exaggerated, concerning 
the intolerance of the Protestants and the hardship of life 
in the New England towns. Most refused to return; but 
Captain Baker persuaded Margaret Le Beau to come back 
and marry him. Her mother and her confessor remon- 
strated; the French authorities insisted that her children 
should remain in Canada and that she should forfeit all her 
propertj' there; but she yielded to the call of the blood. She 
was admitted to a Protestant church in Northampton, was 
married to Captain Baker and received a small land grant 
in Brookfield, conditioned upon her marrying and remaining 
in the province. Repeated attempts by the "mother to 
obtain the possession of her three children failed, although, 
in 1722, she and her husband made a journey to Canada 
for that purpose. She bore seven children to her second 
husband, all but one of whom married and seem to have left 
descendants. About twelve years after she came to Brook- 
field, her husband, Captain Baker, quarrelled with one of 
its leading citizens, sold his land there and left the town. 
By the insolvency of the principal purchaser before the day 
of payment, he lost almost all his property. He first moved 
to Mendon and then to his wife's native town in New Hamp- 
shire. Her energy was not weakened by this new misfor- 
tune. She had obtained, in the province of Maine, a land 
grant held in trust for her by Colonel William Pepperell. 
Within a few months after they had arrived at Dover, she 
obtained from the General Assembly of New Hampshire, 
a statute authorizing her to keep a tavern there. She 
opened this, thus supporting her younger children and her 
husband until he died, eighteen years afterwards. She sur- 
vived until the age of eighty-four. Such were a few of the 
women of Brookfield. 

But other anxieties than fear of the savages depressed 
the citizens. They were unable during the early wars to 
give such devotion to agriculture as could compel the land 
to furnish them with support. The colonial records are full 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 59 

of frequent petitions by them for aid and for fourteen years 
or more after the second settlement they were treated as 
soldiers and received rations and pay in that capacity. The 
following petition is one of a number that might be quoted: 

"Brookfield, Dec. 14, 1704. 
"To His Excelancy, etc. 

"we hues names are underwriten do Humbly beage 
"your Excelancy's favor and that you wod consider our 
"weke condishone: the favor we beg is that we all ov us 
"not that such of us as find that are under such disad- 
vantages that they cant subsist there might remove in- 
"to some other towne where they may worke for there 
"liveinge. by the deficulty of the times we are reduste 
"to such p'verty that we cant subsist except your onors 
"wil plese to grant us wages as solders & pay for our diat 
"for we raize litle or none of our provision by rezen of 
"our being drawn so frome our improvements of Lands, 
"our families are so large and our means are so small that 
"we cant live without sume other imploye than any we 
"have at presant. and if the honoured Cort se coaus to 
"put us in as solders we will as we do account it our duti 
"conform to the order of authority — but we rather if it 
"may be granted chuse to remove into other towns, 
"and we humble intrete that the onors of the Corte 
"would plese to grant us pay for our diat for the time we 
"have searve [d] as soldears. no more presant but we 
"remain youars as followeth." 

They were also obliged to petition for spiritual suste- 
nance. The Reverend Younglove after the breaking up of 
the first settlement and the refusal to appoint him on the 
committee, did not return. The loss on that account was 
probably not large, since he was subsequently often directed 
by the Court to stop preaching. The new settlers could not 
support a pastor, nor even organize a church. For about 
twelve years, the annual stipend of £20 was voted by the 



60 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERWARY 

General Court for the payment of a chaplain to the garrison 
at Brookfield. The third chaplain that was appointed also 
received the grant of a homestead with the accompanying 
lots both in plain and meadow. On October 30th, 1706: 
"The Humble Address of the Inhabitants and Soldiers 
"of Brookfield. 

"Showeth our grateful acknowledgements to your 
"Honours, in that you did so consider our low condition, 
"in so much as your Hon ra did the year past grant a 
"considerable suply of Moneys toward the maintaining 
"a Minister to preach the Gospel to us in this place. 
"We now humbly begg the gracious continuance of your 
"Hon™ goodness and bounty to us for the insuing year, 
"els we shall starve & pine away for want of that spiritual 
"food with the which throw your Honours liberality we 
"were the last year so plentifully fed with." 
All of these chaplains were selected by the committee 
and the inhabitants, the latter sometimes contributing to 
their support. There was no established church at Brook- 
field until 1717. Those who wished to become church 
members were obliged to go to Northampton and a special 
act of the General Court in 1691 authorized "Mr. Joseph 
Hawley of Northampton to joine persons in marriage at 
Brookfield." 

The massacre of the haymakers was the last action on 
the soil of Brookfield that markedly distinguished its history 
from that of other towns of Massachusetts. Until the Peace 
of Utrecht, a garrison was kept there, at least while the 
leaves were on the trees; sentinels were posted to guard 
workers in the meadows and the worshippers at meeting, 
and nearly all the men were paid as "standing guards." 

Shortly after the close of the War of the Succession in 
Spain, they organized a church, began the building of a 
meeting-house and employed a pastor. The meeting-house 
was forty-five by thirty-five feet with a gallery. Every 
inhabitant contributed labor or money toward its construe- 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 61 

tion. They voted the minister "for his salary 52 pounds 
"yearly for 3 years and to rise 40 shillings a year until it 
"comes to 70 pounds and there to stay"; besides a land 
grant fit for orchard and meadow; a house and barn to be 
built for him, he to provide the glass, nails and iron; twenty- 
five cords of wood a year and the right to require each man's 
work for one day yearly for six years. This seigniorial 
privilege was afterwards commuted. He accepted the 
town's house, which was already built opposite the place of 
the siege, allowing a credit of thirty pounds upon his salary, 
in return for the increased accommodation which this afford- 
ed and for six appurtenant acres, and the inhabitants dug 
and stoned for him a well, in return for a release of his right 
to have a new dwelling built him and to compel the yearly 
work from his parishioners. In October, 1717, the church 
was organized and the Reverend Thomas Cheney was or- 
dained after a day of fasting and prayer, set apart by what 
is described as "full and clear votes of the town to implore 
"God's presence with us in this solemn and weighty 
"matter." The meeting-house was not yet finished. Be- 
fore its completion, the delicate matter of the distribution 
of the seats was arranged at a town meeting, held within two 
months of the creation of the town. The two best pews, 
each eight feet square, were given to Captain Thomas Baker 
and Thomas Gilbert; the former paying three pounds, the 
latter two pounds, for his pew. Pew room was granted 
subsequently to others, apparently in return for money or 
labor upon the meeting-house. The pew rent was forty 
shillings a year. A ministry pew was ordered on the right 
of the pulpit, and upon its left another "to be for Deacons' 
"wives, and said wives to sit in the pew during their 
"natural lives." The occupants usually furnished their 
own straight backed cane bottomed chairs, many of which 
are still treasured by their descendants. The rest of the 
meeting-house was filled "with strong plain seats." And a 
committee was appointed to assign the same, with instruc- 



62 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

tions "to have regard to age, where it is honorable, and 
"to estate; taking the list that Mr. Cheney's Rate was 
"made by as a rule; having also regard to men's service- 
" fulness in the town." It was solemnly voted "that the 
"foreseat in the front gallery shall be equal in dignity 
"with the third seat in the body; and the fore seat in 
"the side gallery shall be equal with the fourth seat in the 
"body of the house." The irreverent may smile at the 
punctiliousness that our ancestors observed in arranging 
their stations while they worshipped God together ; but many 
of us still remember when the possession of a pew near the 
front of the centre aisle was considered to be a sign of quali- 
ty. The daughters of the Puritans seem to have exercised 
a disturbing influence upon some of the younger worshippers ; 
for, in 1733, there was a vote of a town meeting "that the 
"women that set in the front gallery in the meeting-house 
"be seated in some other convenient place in said house, 
"the pews only excepted." The men's eyes, like those of 
Jeremiah, were troubled by the sight of the virgins. 
The year after the organization of the church, the fol- 
lowing petition was presented to the General Court: 

"We undersigned, the Committee for Brookfield, after 
"many Disappointments by warr and otherwise which 
"for a long time the people have laboured under, by the 
"good providence of God are now so increased that they 
"are now near fifty families in the place, have near finished 
"a very convenient meeting-house, have settled a church 
"and ordained an orthodox & learned Minister — We 
"humbly propose that they be made a Township, to order 
"all the affairs of a Township, according to the directions 
"of the Law by themselves, & said Committee released, — 
"which we submit to the Court's determination." 

On November 12th, 1718, it was "Read and Ordered, 
"That the prayers of this Petition be granted: and that 
"the Inhabitants of the Town of Brookfield be invested 
"with all the powers, privileges and authorities to direct, 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 63 

"order and manage all the affairs of the said Township that 
"other towns are or ought to be invested with; And that 
"the Committee be dismist from their care of them with 
"the thanks of this Court for their good & faithful service. 
"The said Town to lye in the County of Hampshire." 
At the first town-meeting, when business of any impor- 
tance was transacted — that held January 5th, 1719 — pro- 
vision was made by land grant for a school. Liberal provi- 
sion for education was made from time to time throughout 
the history of the town; although, up to the close of the 
Eighteenth Century, children learned to write on birch-bark 
paper, with quills plucked from the Brookfield birds, in 
home-made ink of alderbark. The inhabitants of Brook- 
field were not behind the other citizens of the State in their 
devotion to the public schools, which are the crowning glory 
of New England. Yet, when the first school was founded 
they were still in great poverty. Only, during the first of 
the twelve years succeeding the town's organization could 
they afford to send a representative to the legislature and 
the money for his salary was not collected till more than three 
years after his term had expired. 

During Father Rasle's war, said to have been instigated 

in 1722 by the Jesuit in Maine whose name it bears, the 

inhabitants were continually on guard; but they were not 

molested, although the tracks of Indians were seen near the 

village and their hunting-guns often heard. The pastor 

wrote on May 25th, 1725: "I would by these humbly entreat 

"y r Honour would think of our Poor afflicted Town, and 

"that you would please to grant our Town some garrison 

"soldiers. I would beg y r Honour not to be Troubled 

"that I take upon me to request this favour of you to my 

"people, for their interest and welfare in a great measure 

"is mine; and if they can't have some help, by reason of 

"the danger of the enemy, they will not be able to improve 

"their lands, and so not to be able to live themselves nor 

"to pay me my sallary. " 



64 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

He thus secured the detail of a garrison of ten men from 
the upper county. When the Indians attacked Rutland, 
Brookfield men marched to its relief. And for thirty years, 
a citizen of Brookfield boasted that he had taken part in 
"Lovell's fight," when only half a band of rangers escaped 
from an Indian ambuscade. 

Long after the extension of the frontier relieved the 

settlers from daily dread of the tomahawk, they were still 

surrounded by the wilderness and in danger from wild 

beasts. Bears were killed in the township as late as 1747. 

In 1734, a bounty of forty shillings was offered for grown 

wolf heads. And in 1741, it was voted "that whoever 

"within 20 days shall kill any rattlesnake, and shall bring 

"the last joint of the tail thereof to the selectmen, and 

"shall solemnly declare that the said snake was killed in 

"or near our town shall have 3d. reward." 

But they more feared the enemy of souls. The most 

important event in the half century following the meadow 

massacre, the one which, of all that subsequently happened 

in the town, lives most strongly in the recollection of the 

inhabitants, was the preaching by the great Methodist from 

the stone on Foster's Hill, which still bears his name. Happy 

is the village where life contains nothing more dramatic than 

a sermon! The great preacher was then only twenty-six 

years old; but his voice and gestures had roused thousands 

to religious enthusiasm, from Georgia to Massachusetts, as 

well as in England. The force of his eloquence is proved 

by the testimony of the most competent judges, including 

the unconverted sceptics, Bolingbroke and Hume. The 

following story is told by Franklin concerning Whitefield's 

charity sermon in support of the endowment of an orphan 

asylum at Savannah: "I did not disapprove of the design; 

"but, as Georgia was then destitute of materials and 

"workmen, and it was proposed to send them from Phila- 

"delphia at a great expense, I thought it would have been 

"better to have built the house at Philadelphia and 







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HON. ROGER FOSTER 65 

"brought the children to it. This I advised; but he was 
"resolute in his first project, rejected my counsel, and I 
"therefore refused to contribute. I happened soon after 
"to attend one of his sermons, in the course of which I 
"perceived he intended to finish with a collection, and I 
"silently resolved he should get nothing from me. I had 
"in my pocket a handful of copper money, three or four 
"silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he proceeded, 
"I began to soften, and concluded to give the copper. 
"Another stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of that, 
"and determined me to give the silver; and he finished so 
"admirably that I emptied my pocket wholly into the 
"collector's dish, gold and all. At this sermon there was 
"also one of our club, who, being of my sentiments re- 
specting the building in Georgia, and suspecting a col- 
lection might be intended, had by precaution emptied 
"his pockets before he came from home. Towards the 
"conclusion of the discourse, however, he felt a strong 
"inclination to give, and applied to a neighbour, who 
"stood near him, to lend him some money for the purpose. 
"The request was fortunately made to perhaps the only 
"man in the company who had the firmness not to be 
'' affected by the preacher. His answer was, ' At any other 
"time, friend Hopkinson, I would lend to thee freely; but 
"not now, for thee seems to be out of thy right senses.'" 
In London, men rose at four o'clock on winter mornings 
to hear him preach in a tabernacle lighted by lanterns carried 
by thousands. He had a voice so strong that it could be 
heard by thirty thousand when he spoke in the open, and yet 
so soft that it was said he could move congregations to tears 
merely by the pronunciation of the word Mesopotamia. 
Like the ancient orators, his wholy body was in action. He 
emphasized by stamping with his feet, as well as by the 
motion of his arms. The leading actors studied his gestures 
in the hope of being able to reproduce them on the boards. 
He was not wont to write his sermons; but he often repeated 



66 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

them to different congregations. And Garrick said that his 
art was such that they improved until the fortieth repetition. 
He would single out individuals and compel them to answer 
expressing their assent to his doctrines; at the same time 
keeping control of the whole assembly. His appeals affected 
scholars and men of the world, as well as those who could 
neither read nor write. No man of that century prided 
himself so much as Lord Chesterfield upon the control of his 
emotions. Yet, when he heard Whitefield's description of 
an old blind man who had lost his dog, wandering nearer 
and nearer to a precipice, the earl started to his feet and cried : 
"Good God, he is gone." When the preacher spoke at the 
collieries, the tears of the miners made white lines down the 
coal dust on their cheeks. Such of his sermons as can now 
be read make it impossible to understand his power. This 
is usual with oratory that affects the multitude. To make 
the written word effective requires far different art from that 
which charms when it is spoken. The repetitions which are 
usually necessary for a mixed audience, often changing, 
whose recollections of previous portions of the argument 
needs frequent jogging; the homely local and timely allusions 
which a tactful speaker uses with the greatest force fall flat 
upon the printed page and are usually omitted from the 
publication. Omissions of much that, to the reader, seems 
requisite for artistic symmetry, must often be made by a 
speaker who would avoid suggestions that to some peculiari- 
ties in his audience might be offensive. The voice of White- 
field, as it ran the gamut from whispered pleading to thun- 
derous indignation and melting emotion; the play of his 
features; the emphasis of his gestures dignified by his wig 
and gown; can be no better reproduced on paper than can be 
the convulsions he inspired in his hearers. The last were 
also heightened by his reputation and by the contagion of 
religious enthusiasm among them. On a day appointed 
for him to preach, a woman threw herself upon the ground, 
rolled over and over in the mud. shrieking: "Oh! Lord save 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 67 

me, save me." When she had recovered her breath, she 
said to a bystander: "What a great exhorter Mr. Whitefield 
is." "That is not Mr. Whitefield," said the other; "He 
has not preached yet. That is the minister who comes 
before him." "What," said she, "is not that Mr. White- 
field? Then I have dirtied myself for nothing." The 
Reverend Mr. Cheney resented the attempt of another 
pastor to feed his flock and at first refused to open the meet- 
ing-house for the itinerant preacher. The people, however, 
were resolved to hear Whitefield, who then said he would 
speak in the open air. When the force of public opinion 
compelled Mr. Cheney to offer him the use of the pulpit, a 
crowd had collected too large to be received in the meeting- 
house. So the preacher spoke on October 16th, 1740, from 
the place which has since been known as the Whitefield rock. 
The tradition of what he said, although distorted, enables 
us now to ascertain his text, which, curiously enough, has 
not been discovered by the scholarly speakers who have 
preceded me. I am so much indebted to their learning that I 
cannot resist the temptation to claim credit for my sole con- 
tribution to the town's religious history. It was from the 
verse preceding the Biblical story of Paul's discourse upon 
Mars' Hill; that famous sermon, the authenticity of which 
divines calling themselves Christian ministers had not then 
attacked. "And some said, what will this babbler say? " l 
That was the period of the Great Awakening. 

It may have been due to the early influence of the 
Pynchons that the records of Brookfield are free from illus- 
trations of the ill effects of religious bigotry. The Half 
Way Covenant, which afforded certain privileges to those 
who had conscientious scruples against professing all the 

1 The address of Dr. Lyman Whiting on the Two Hundredth Anniversary of 
the Town Settlement contains the following passage: "The wonderful preacher 
began, kindly saluting them. He was glad to see them; and then passed to enquire 
for the motives drawing them there. 'Some of you come to hear what the babbler 
will say,' is a sentence remembered by a hearer who went to her rest during the 
ministry of Rev. Dr. Phelps." See Acts. XVII. 18. 



68 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

tenets of the dominant religion, was early permitted and 
allowed, at least in the church of West Brookfield, until the 
Nineteenth Century. It was the usual practice in the Con- 
gregational churches of Massachusetts to decide all important 
matters by the "silentius vote." 2 No question could be 
considered without the consent of the minister. He presided 
at all meetings and put the motion in a form which required 
only a silent assent. No count of those for or against the 
motion was usually made. This gave the divines powers 
over matters of doctrine, discipline, the admission and exclu- 
sion of members whose share in the civil government was 
then usually dependent upon their right to communion, in 
comparison with which the powers of the speaker in a legis- 
lative house of our era seem infinitesimal. On January 
30th, 1753, at a meeting of the Second Church of Christ at 
Brookfield, "The Question being asked whether any thing 
"short of a hand vote should be looked upon as valid in 
"said church — it passed in the negative." The leaders 
of Brookfield were men of affairs, not ecclesiastics. And it 
is to the credit of the ministry there that its incumbents 
seem, in most cases, to have cheerfully acquiesced in that 
situation. As to others of the Puritans, the rites and sym- 
bols — even the words — that had been used in the exercise 
of Christianity for centuries, were repugnant to them as 
savoring of Romanism and the Church of England. The 
place of worship was a meeting-house, not a church. A 
church consisted only of the organized body of believers. 
A crucifix, or even a cross, would have been no more suffered 
there than in a mosque of the Mohammedans. Many even 
refused to kneel during prayer; genuflexion was an attitude 

1 The silentius vote was exercised in Worcester County as late as 1771 by Mr. Goss, 
pastor of the Church of Bolton, in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent his dismissal for 
drunkenness; and by Mellen, pastor of the Second Parish in Sterling, who thus pre- 
vented members of the church which had dismissed Goss, from taking of communion 
at his meeting-house. (See a sermon by Dr. Aaron Bancroft, delivered in Worcester 
on January 31st, 1836, published at Worcester by Clarendon Harris in 1S36, pp. 7, 
10; and an unpublished article entitled " Illustrations of Ecclesiastical Usages in Mass- 
achusetts, " by Samuel Swett Green.) 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 69 

that seemed inconsistent with the character of a free Pro- 
testant. He stood when speaking to the Almighty. The 
ancient appellations of ecclesiastics were so eschewed that 
by long disuse they became incomprehensible to the inhabi- 
tants. At the end of the Eighteenth Century, Captain John 
Potter of the Lower Village was the watch-maker and the 
only skilled mechanic. A traveller asked the landlady of 
the tavern: "Who is your clergyman?" She did not know 
the meaning of the word; but as the watchmaker was the 
jack of all trades, she thought he must be the clergyman if 
they had any, and answered: "Captain Potter." The 
franchise was not confined to members of the church. With- 
in eight years after the organization of the town, it was 
voted "that all persons that are freeholders and of age to 
"act for themselves shall or may be voters in the town 
"meeting." Although as late as the early part of the 
Nineteenth Century, there was a reputed witch in Brook- 
field, no prosecutions for witchcraft disgrace our annals. 
They are free also from punishment for heresy or blasphemy. 
The only two attempts in that direction were inspired by 
the warmth of politics rather than religious bigotry. Such 
were the indictment of Thomas Wilson "for cursing Samuel 
Warner," which was never tried, and that which caused 
Captain Baker to leave the community. In September, 
1727, he was tried at the Court of Assizes in Springfield upon 
the following charge: "There being a discourse of God's 
"having in his Providence, put in Joseph Jennings, Esq., 
"of Brookfield, a Justice of the Peace, Captain Baker 
"used the following words — 'If I had been with the Al- 
"mighty, I would have taught him better.'" Jennings, 
who was a deacon, during the previous spring, procured an 
accusation against Baker of blasphemj' and compelled him 
to give bail to the amount of £200. The accused petitioned 
the governor, saying "however the evidences might strain 
"and misconstrue his words, yet in conscience he really 
"had no design to reproach the Deity"; and prayed that 



70 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

"he might be 'discharged from his recognizance, or ad- 
"mitted to a trial." The jury found a verdict of not 
guilty. 

Only one case of religious cruelty is recorded. From 
the beginning of the settlement, it was the custom of the 
inhabitants to begin the weekly day of rest at sun-down. 
They followed the Hebraic custom, as well as the words of 
Holy Writ, which say that the evening and the morning 
were the first day. All work of man and beast upon the 
farm ceased Saturday afternoon, an hour before sunset. 
The men then shaved and made the other necessary prepara- 
tions for the sacred time and the women finished making 
ready the Sunday food before the sun went down. No other 
work, except that of absolute necessity and indispensable 
mercy — not even bed-making or sweeping— was permitted. 
The resource of a hired Gentile from without the house, 
which the later Rabbis allow to the Jews for the supply of 
ordinary comforts upon the day sacred to the Creator of the 
good things of this life, was denied them. Until 1818, there 
was no stove in the meeting-house. A few hot stones 
brought in by the more luxurious pewholders were the sole 
means of artificial warmth. The winter temperature of the 
meeting-house at North Brookfield in 1798 is well described 
by the Reverend Thomas Snell, who preached there for 
more than fifty years, to the great satisfaction of the parish : 
"The age and infirmities and consequent coldness of your 
"former house of worship, without any means of warming 
"it in severe weather, together with the distance of dwell- 
ing houses (except two or three) rendered the condition 
"of the people on a cold Sabbath, every thing but toler- 
"able; and the labors of the minister wholly useless, unless 
"to afflict his hearers with a long discourse for not pro- 
"viding a warmer house. When almost every one was 
"anxiously looking for the close of service that he might 
"thaw out from his morning's freeze, and that desire was 
"to be read in the countenance without danger of mistake, 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 71 

"you may well imagine that the feelings of the speaker 
"could not be of the most pleasant sort, especially when 
"he had spent half the week, day and night, in preparing 
"his discourse." Yet men in the saddle and women on 
the pillion rode miles to attend the two Sunday services, 
allowing themselves an intermission of not more than an 
hour in winter and in the summer months an hour and a half. 
As the Lord's Day in their opinion, based upon the language 
of the Bible, ceased with sunset, they thought it not wrong 
to have a little mild social recreation during the ensuing 
evening. On October 23rd, 1816, the Reverend Eliakin 
Phelps was ordained as associate pastor of the church in 
West Brookfield. He thus describes what he inflicted upon 
his parishoners: "The people of Brookfield when I went 
"among them, were in the habit of observing Saturday 
"evening as holy time, or rather not observing Sabbath 
" evening. Their custom was, as they were dressed in their 
"go-to-meeting suit, to spend Sabbath evening in social 
"chat among the neighbors. It was easy to see that what- 
ever of seriousness might have been impressed on their 
"minds by the services of the day, was almost sure to be 
"banished and destroyed by the gossip of the evening. 
"To meet this state of things, I determined to try the 
"effect of a third service for the evening. It worked well. 
"It finally grew into a custom, and for the greater portion 
"of my ministry I had three services on each Sabbath." 
The congregation submitted; but within a few years 
stoves were put in the meeting-house and the pastorate of 
Mr. Phelps lasted a single decade, when he became a school- 
master at the head of what was then known as a female 
seminary. Let us rejoice that in this Twentieth Century, 
it is understood that religion can exist apart from melan- 
choly. 

Upon the unfortunate dispute which resulted in the 
formation of the third parish; the riotous destruction of the 
old meeting-house; the remonstrance and appeals to the 



72 TWO HUNDEED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

General Court, which ordered a stay of proceedings in the 
construction of the new house of worship on Seth Banister's 
Hill, and the retirement of the Reverend Elisha Harding, the 
benefit of whose services each of two parishes sought to sur- 
render to the other; we need not dwell. It is more refreshing 
to quote the Reverend Daniel Foster for seventeen years 
pastor at New Braintree. Some of the older members of 
his congregation objected to his preaching, because he avoided 
subtle points of technical theology; approved cheerfulness, 
rather than spiritual penance by ordinary sinners, and was 
believed to be too liberal in his doctrinal views. Having 
failed in their attempt at his removal, they left his congre- 
gation, and some of them requested a recommendation to 
another church. He said at the church meeting: "Breth- 
ren, tw r o of us desire to go to Heaven by way of North Brook- 
field. Is there any objection?" It is not surprising that 
when he died, after a pastorate of seventeen years, he was 
buried at the expense of the town and the younger men w r ore 
badges of mourning for thirty days. His successor was the 
Reverend John Fiske. It was thought not indecorous to 
close the services upon his installation with a ball. It is 
possible that this aided the church quite as much as a fast 
would have done. 

Those who believed that the sacrament of baptism 
should be administered in the form in which it was received 
by Christ and in accordance with the practice of the original 
apostolic churches and of that sect whose other rites most 
closely conform to those of the primitive Christians, had the 
benefit of the ministrations of travelling ministers as early 
as 1748; but it was not until November 14th, 1786, that the 
first Baptist Society was formed in Brookfield. They 
worshipped in barns and private dwellings for nine years. 
In 1795, a meeting-house was erected by them. 

In spite of the impression made by Whitefield, the first 
mention of a regular Methodist exhorter that I can find in 
Brookfield concerns the Reverend Elijah Bachelor, who 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 73 

preached on circuit in the house of the Widow Crowell on 
Ragged Hill. He converted her son Joshua, who preached 
Methodism for fifty-seven years, but not in Brookfield. In 
1829, Erastus Otis was appointed to the Brookfield Circuit 
by the Conference. In May, 1830, Nathaniel Smith, for- 
merly a free-will Baptist, obtained a license and exhorted a 
class gathered in his own house. Other preachers were later 
appointed to the Circuit and at first held services during 
the summer at five o'clock on Sunday afternoons at the old 
Congregational Meeting-House, which they had bought. 

Those whose intellects refused to accept the doctrine 
that a benevolent Almighty could condemn his creatures 
to everlasting punishment for yielding to the temptations 
that he had placed about them were incorporated in a Uni- 
versalist Church in 1812. Upon the schism that was caused 
by the converts to the Unitarian doctrines and the bitterness 
that it occasioned, this is not the time to dwell. It is not our 
function to compose such quarrels. It seems, however, 
proper to refer to the fact that the right of the Unitarians to 
use the old meeting-house and church property when they 
constituted a majority of the parish was adjudicated in a 
case that arose in the year 1827 in the Third Church of 
Brookfield. Samuel M. Burnside of Worcester was one of 
the counsel for the successful Unitarians. His wife was born 
in Brookfield. It is pleasant to remember that, although 
her brother, Alfred Dwight Foster, was strongly opposed 
to the new doctrines, no odium theologicum disturbed the 
harmony of that family. 

The oldest and the most powerful of all Christian 
churches, which has since founded an institution of learning 
that is one of the ornaments of Worcester County, held no 
service in North Brookfield until June, 1851. The sacra- 
ments were at first administered to the Catholics 
here in a mission by priests from Webster and afterwards 
by those attached to the church at Ware. St. Joseph's 
Church was not finished until July, 1867. 



/4 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

But Brookfield acquired more renown in military affairs 
than in those which were ecclesiastical. It was always 
known as the fighting town of Massachusetts. And when- 
ever their country was in danger, Brookfield men and Brook- 
field boys shouldered the musket. Great service to the 
colony and to England was rendered by its citizens during 
the war with France, declared in 1744. Although the town 
was no longer on the frontier and not attacked by the enemy, 
there were many Indians in its neighborhood, and at least 
one new fort was built for its protection. This was after- 
wards known as the "old French fort," standing at the top 
of Coy's Hill on the "Rich Land" north of Power's place. 
It was connected with Rich's Tavern and was what was then 
called a mount; a heavily timbered building about twenty 
feet square, two stories high, with a covered lookout on the 
roof surrounded bj^ a balustrade. 

The leading citizen of the community, to whom all look- 
ed for the protection and assertion of their rights, was then 
Colonel Joseph Dwight. He was a son of Captain Henry 
Dwight of Hatfield and Dedham; a judge of the Common 
Pleas in Hampshire County, and a member of the com- 
mittee that ruled Brookfield before it was incorporated as a 
town, who had bought 1400 acres there. He was graduated 
from Harvard in 1722 at the age of nineteen, and four years 
later married Mary Pynchon, the granddaughter of the 
former patron of the town. In order to protect the land 
belonging to the two families, he moved from Springfield 
to Brookfield in 1722 and settled on Foster's Hill, where, 
in 1735, he built the old Foster House, destroyed by fire 
November 11th, 1901, a landmark in this county for more 
than a century. Within two years of his settlement, he 
was placed on one of the important committees in charge 
of the town's lands. A year later, when twenty-eight, he was 
elected representative in the General Court and thus served 
the town for eleven years, during one of which he was speaker 
of the house. He was admitted to the bar when thirty and 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 75 

six years later was made Judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas. 

The only triumph of the British cause in the War of the 
Austrian Succession was the capture of Louisburg by the 
New Englanders. The recommendation of Governor Shirley 
to attempt the siege was disapproved at a secret session of 
the House. But one of the representatives at his family 
prayers beseeched divine guidance as to his vote and the 
secret leaked out through a servant or member of his family 
present at his devotions. Since the commerce and fisheries 
seemed to be at the mercy of the fortress, public opinion 
strongly sustained the governor and petitions sent to the 
legislators from the coast towns obtained a reconsideration 
and the approval of this recommendation by a majority of 
one. There was great enthusiasm in support of the expedi- 
tion. Whitefield furnished a legend for the regimental 
colors, "Nil desperandum, Christo duce." At least one of 
his disciples among the soldiers carried a hatchet, in order 
that he might have the pious pleasure of using it in destroy- 
ing the works of art in the churches of Cape Breton. William 
Pepperell, who received a baronetcy for his services, was 
commander-in-chief. The success was largely due, however, 
to two citizens of Worcester County, one of them from Brook- 
field. Joseph D wight volunteered and was commissioned 
colonel of the Ninth Regiment. Several citizens of Brook- 
field were officers as well as privates. They and the other 
soldiers were thus described by a contemporary, who is cor- 
roborated by the diary of a soldier, which has been preserved: 
"They were not the scum of the land, idle, worthless crea- 
"tures, given to profaneness and intemperance, and de- 
bauched in their manners, but, for the generality, they 
"were men who had upon their minds an awe of God, and 
"who feared an oath; they were men industrious in their 
"callings, and well able to provide for themselves and 
"families; in a word, they were men of life and spirit, 
"animated with love to their King and country, and will- 



76 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

"ing to venture their lives, not so much to serve themselves 
"as to promote the public good. 'T is a rare thing for so 
"many men of such a character to be employed in such an 
"enterprise." This describes the soldiers of New Eng- 
land in every war. 

Before the siege began, Colonel Dwight 3 was promoted 
to the office of Brigadier-General and placed in command of 
the artillery. 4 To the successful management of this the 
capture of the fort was due. In order to bring the cannon 
of the New Englanders within range, they had to be dragged, 
in plain view and within gunshot of the walls of the fortress, 
over a swamp where oxen and horses could not be used. He 
led his men across, by night and in fogs, harnessed to their 
guns with straps across their hearts, sinking up to their knees 
in the mud. The ancient and honorable artillery of Boston 
then did yeomen's service. During the siege, which lasted 
forty-nine days, fifteen hundred shot and shell were thrown 
into the town, leaving not a single house uninjured and not 

a Brigadier Joseph Dwight was described by a contemporary as " a man of com- 
manding, dignified deportment and of singular veracity. All who knew him speak of 
this virtue with enthusiasm." 

4 "Brigadier Dwight here stands in Honour high, 

Col'nel o're Train of the Artillery. 

Expert in use of Arms, and martial skill. 

Directs each hostile Posture to Fulfill. 

Col'nel also Commissioner is, and stands. 

Ready to Act, in Regimental Bands. 

He with'a Lieutenant Thomas, grace the Plain, 

In hostile Fields, the Gallic's do disdain: 

With Courage Bold, undauntedly Pursue, 

The Conquest great, which then was had in View. 

With them, their Major Gardner acts his part, 

From warlike mind and Country's good at heart." 
A brief and Plain Essay on God's Wonder-working Providence For New England, 
In the Reduction of Louisburg, and Fortress thereto belonging on Cape Breton. With 
a short hint in the Beginning on the French Taking and plundering the People of 
Canso, which led the several Governments to unite and Pursue that Expedition. 
With the names of the Leading Officers in the Army and the Several Regiments to 
which they belonged. By Samuel Niles. " Non Magis est quaerere, quam Tucri." 
If ye forsake the Lord, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that 
he hath done you good. Josh. XXIV 20. The victory that day was turned into 
Mourning, unto all the People. 2 Sam. XIX 2. N. London. Printed and sold by 
T. Green, 1747. 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 77 

more than three or four fit for habitation. The service of 
Brigadier Dwight received special commendation from Gen- 
eral Pepperell, who three days after the surrender of the 
town appointed him Judge of the Court of Admiralty. 
During the war, a number of cannon had been deserted by 
the French, who spiked them in the belief that they would 
thus be rendered useless; but the besieged were circumvented 
by the Yankee ingenuity. Lieutenant Edmund Bemis of 
Spencer, one of the armorers, built wood-fires around the 
breeches of the guns, so dilating the metal about the touch 
holes that the spikes could be driven in without injury and 
the cannon used with telling effect against their former 
owners. For this he received a bounty. 

Later service was performed by the citizens of Brook- 
field upon the frontier of Massachusetts. This is illustrated 
by the following letter from General Dwight, written July 
16th, 1748: "We have constant accounts of the enemy 
"their lying upon our borders in great numbers, killing 
"and captivating our people; and we suffer ourselves to be 
"a prey to them and through cowardice or covetousness, 
"or 1 know not what bad spirit in officers and men we can't 
"so much as bury the slain. It appears to me high time 
"for the Government to exert its Power and give more 
"effectual directions to officers posted on our frontiers; 
"and if need be to raise half the militia of the Province: 
"But I beg we may have 1000 men to drive the woods and 
"pursue the enemy even to Crown Point. If it be worth 
"while to send parties into the enemy's country, and give 
"at the rate of £1000 per scalp— Why when they are so 
"numerous on our borders should we lie intirely still and 
" do nothing — Can't some troops of horse be sent and many 
"riot commissions be given to such as will inlist a number 
"of Volunteers and by one way or other so many men 
"raised as will a little discourage our enemy — I doubt not 
"I can find many who would undertake (even without 
"pay) for the Honor of the Country and do good service." 



78 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

He thus procured orders that a sufficient guard be raised to 
protect the exposed garrison. The brigadier himself raised 
one hundred men, at the head of which he marched against 
the Indians. Forty-eight Brookfield men, headed by Cap- 
tain Thomas Buckminister, were placed in Fort Dummer, 
above Northfield, which had previously been under the 
command of Captain Joseph Kellog, also of this town. The 
treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle providing for peace was signed 
October 7th of that year, but the news did not reach Boston 
for sixth months. 

In the last French and Indian War, which began six years 
later, Brookfield again furnished soldiers and supplies. In 
their marches through the wilderness, nine of them ate noth- 
ing for many days but berries, beech buds and beech nuts; 
some were obliged to boil their belts, powder horns and ball 
pouches for food; others, like Jonathan, appeased the pangs 
of hunger by sucking the end of a rod dipped in honey, and 
when that was exhausted ate the flesh of their only dog. 
General Dwight, then more than fifty-three, raised a regi- 
ment and took part in an expedition against Crown Point. 
Captain Jeduthan Baldwin, who was later a member of the 
Provincial Congress and colonel in the Continental Army, 
served throughout this war. General Rufus Putnam served 
as a private; part of the time with a company of rangers, 
who wore Indian dress, with bare thighs, defenseless against 
the insects of the woods. He has left a journal containing 
an intersting account of his experiences. In that war also 
fought five of the seven famous Waite brothers, sons of the 
tavern-keeper, all of whom later served in the Revolution, 
when four of them were officers and two, Joseph and Thomas, 
were killed. They sprang from a race of Indian fighters. 
Some were at Bunker Hill; others at Bennington. Waite's 
River in Vermont is named after Joseph, who was an ensign 
and later a captain in this last French and Indian War; 
because after his company had fed upon a deer which he had 
killed, they hung the remains upon a tree, carving his name 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 79 

upon the bark, for the relief of their starving friends who 
followed. Three of them were at "Rogers's Slide." Ben- 
jamin enlisted when he was only eighteen. He was taken 
prisoner two years later and was made to run the gauntlet; 
but he snatched a gun from the nearest Indian and laid 
about right and left with such force that he opened the lines 
of the savages and escaped without injury, applauded by 
the old men, who enjoyed the confusion of those who were 
younger, and at the end of the race he was invited to her 
house by a French woman who protected him until his 
escape. 5 Before he was twenty-four, he had engaged in for- 
ty battles without a serious wound. He boasted that when 
he was twenty-three, in a winter's march, when other men 
were so exhausted by the cold that they begged to be shot 
for relief, he revived them by flogging, and at icy fords he 
would shoulder a couple of the little fellows and carry them 
across. When colonel of the Vermont Militia, he received a 
wound in the suppression of Shay's rebellion. From him 
Waitefield is named. Richard enlisted in 1762, when he was 
only seventeen, with the consent of his guardian, Jedediah 
Foster. He and two others were Green Mountain boys. 
The experience the men of Brookfield thus acquired was of 
great value to their country during the Revolutionary War. 

Brookfield soldiers took part in the capture of Quebec, 
and at least one of them there lost his life. Preparations to 
take that city had long before been made here and snow- 
shoes, gathered for that purpose, were stored in the old 
Foster House then occupied by General Dwight, whence 
some years after the fort was captured they were borrowed 
for use at a funeral. Eighteen of the unhappy Acadians 
were quartered in Brookfield for support. They belonged 
to two families, which were not divided. 

After the conquest of Canada, General Dwight moved 
to Stockbridge, in 1752. He was there, for several years, 

8 His story is reminiscent of the tale of Captain John Smith and Pocohontas. It is 
not impossible that he was as skillful with the long bow as with the Queen Anne musket. 



80 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

trustee of Indian schools, and from 1753 to 1761 was Chief 
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Hampshire Coun- 
ty. He moved to Great Barrington in 1758; and on the 
formation of the new County of Berkshire, in 1761, he be- 
came Judge of Probate and Judge of the Berkshire County 
Court, holding these offices until his death there in 1765. 
As he had succeeded to the influence held by his father- 
in-law, Pynchon, so did the leadership of the town pass from 
him to his own son-in-law. Jedediah Foster was born Oc- 
tober 10th, 1726 at Andover, the son of Ephraim, a black- 
smith; the descendant of Reginald Foster, who emigrated 
from Exeter, England, in 1636, upon one of the embargoed 
ships. He was graduated at Harvard in 1744, at the age of 
seventeen; and he then removed to Brookfield in order to 
assist General Dwight, and married Dorothy Dwight in 1749. 
From him Foster's Hill was named and he occupied during 
the greater part of his life the house built there by Brigadier 
Dwight, which was known to posterity by his name. Fifty 
years ago, the Reverend Doctor Whiting said of him: 
"The perusal of records will show that no man has ever 
"dwelt among us, who held so many local trusts, — lived 
"in such intimate sympathy with the people, cared for 
"and served them so abundantly and excellently, — and 
"yet so far excelled them in station and character. He 
"projected and carried through more that is to be prized 
"in our town life, than could be recounted. * * * 
"We esteem that to be the highest style of citizen man- 
"hood which gains and holds the affectionate confidence 
"of the worthiest of the common people through all the 
"tests of every-day life; and at the same time finds high 
"position given to it among eminent statesmen, jurists 
"and scholars of the times. Few men more completely 
"unite these conditions than Judge Foster." And the 
Reverend Samuel Dunham, a lamented pastor of the First 
Church: "Through his life, he enjoyed the confidence of the 
"inhabitants of this Town and County, perhaps beyond 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 81 

"any man who ever lived here, unless it be his own son, 
"the Honorable Dwight Foster." 
He held military offices from the position of captain and 
major, to which latter position he was appointed by Governor 
Shirley September 20th, 1756, during the last French and 
Indian War, to that of colonel during the Revolution. He 
was appointed Justice of the Peace by the same Governor 
in 1754, holding that place until 1775, when he was appointed 
Judge of Probate for Worcester County. And on March 
20th, 1776, he was appointed Judge of the highest Judicial 
Court of the State, the Superior Court of Judicature. Ten 
years after his father-in-law closed his legislative career as 
speaker of the House, he was elected representative from 
Brookfield to the General Court, held 1761. He was re- 
elected for fourteen successive years, until 1776, when he 
accepted his position on the highest bench. And he was 
again elected for the year 1779. In 1774, he was one of two 
members chosen to represent the province at large upon the 
Governor's Council. But he and twelve others were com- 
plimented by rejection by Governor Gage, for the reason, 
as has been said by a contemporary: that "he had been one 
"of the memorable ninety-two, so greatly celebrated, who 
"refused to rescind the Vote for the circular Letter, and 
"had always in the General Assembly, and their Com- 
"mittees of which he was often a member, opposed the 
"measures of Bernard and Hutchinson for abridging 
"the Liberties of the Country." 

He was a leading member of the Provincial Congress 
during 1774 and 1775. In July of the latter year, he was 
elected a member of the Council; but he resigned this posi- 
tion when he was appointed to the Superior Court, his letter 
saying: "It has for many years been a prevailing opinion that 
"a seat at the Honorable Council, and on the Superior 
"Court Bench ought not to be held by the same Person 
"at one and the same time: An opinion I think founded 
"on the Highest Reason, and should be supported in a 



82 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

" free Constitution. " During the darkest hours of the 
Revolution he never expressed a doubt of his Country's 
success. Upon the dispersion of the Congress at Philadel- 
phia, General Washington inquired upon what men in Mass- 
achusetts he could rely. He was told that Mr. Foster of 
Brookfield was the one in the centre of the State, in whom he 
could place implicit confidence, and from whom he could 
expect unwavering patriotism and fidelity. He died during 
the early part of the Revolutionary War from a disease con- 
tracted in military service, while he was also discharging the 
duties of important civic offices. Had he survived to the 
age allotted to men by the Psalmist, he would undoubtedly 
have left a national reputation. Two of his sons were at the 
same time in the Senate of the United States, sent there by 
different States. 

His first conspicuous action in the town affairs took 
place in 1753, during the dispute that resulted in the division 
of the First parish into two. He drew the petitions and re- 
monstrance and other papers, which set forth the arguments 
in the support of the position then taken by his neighbors. 
In 1759, he was elected Deacon of the Second Church, now 
the First Church in North Brookfield. The records state: 
"Suspended his answer till ye church consented to intro- 
"duce Tate and Brady's Psalms upon trial; then gave it 
"in the affirmative." It was part of the diaconal duties 
to line out and tune the psalms sung by the congregation. 
The ravages of small pox were checked by his example and 
that of William Ranger. Not long before the Revolution, 
they were inoculated at a hospital in Esopus, New York, 
where they had the disease and returned in good health. 
The practice of inoculation was then introduced into the 
town and hospitals were established for that purpose. Pa- 
tients came from the neighboring villages, even from Wor- 
cester. In fair weather, when convalescent, the}' were al- 
lowed to visit the cave and ledges on Slate Hill and even, 
it is said, although the}' were descendants of the Puritans, 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 83 

to play cards there. House parties were formed by young 
men and women for that purpose and courtships were con- 
ducted during the incubation of the microbe. Sweethearts 
were forced to meet among sad surroundings in those 
serious times. Lovers' Lane was in the burying-ground. 
Matches were often made while a pair were watching the 
dead. 

But the town was soon obliged to attend to diseases of 
the body politic. In May, 1773, Jedediah Foster was mod- 
erator of a meeting which approved "a Letter of thanks 
"to the town of Boston for their care in Stating a list 
"of the Infringements and Violations, of Rights * * 
"made by the Court and Parliament of Great Britain, 
"and to show that the town fully concur with the "Town 
"of Boston in Sentiment." The letter was written by 
him, although he did not serve upon the committee that 
reported it. It declared: "This Town will be ever ready 
"to assist, and in every legal and proper way maintain 
"those Rights and Liberties for our children, which with 
"so much Labor, Blood and Treasure were purchased 
"by our ancestors, whose memory is and ought to be 
"esteemed by us." On December 27th, a town meeting 
considered two letters from the Boston Committee of Cor- 
respondence and a committee of five. Judge Foster and 
Captain Baldwin were chosen to report resolutions concern- 
ing the importation of tea "and such other matters as are 
"proper for this town to do at this difficult time." In 
about an hour, the committee reported resolutions, drafted 
by Judge Foster, the chairman. These were adopted as 
follows: "We think it our indispensable duty in the most 
"public manner to let the world know our utter abhorrence 
"of the last and most detestable scheme, in the introduc- 
"tion of Tea from Great Britain, to be peddled out a- 
"mongst us, by which means we were to be made to swal- 
"low a poison more fatal in its effects to the national and 
"political Rights and Privileges of the People of this 



84 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

"country, than ratsbane would be to the natural body." 

In the following May, covenants providing for a boycott of 

obnoxious imports from Great Britain were voluntarily 

signed by many. A committee of six was chosen "to inspect 

"the Traders of this Town and see that they do comply 

"with the covenants and to see that every person has the 

''offer of signing the covenant and also to take care that 

"pedlars do not sell any goods in this Town." 

In August of that year, a convention of the committees 

of correspondence and delegates of the several towns in 

Worcester County was held at the tavern held by Mrs. Mary 

Stearns in Worcester. There were present from Brookfield, 

Judge Foster, Captain Baldwin and Captain Upham, the 

moderator, clerk and treasurer of the town. After several 

adjournments in order to obtain representation from some 

towns in the county which had elected no committees of 

correspondence nor delegates, on the 10th the convention 

passed a number of resolutions, amongst others the following : 

" Resolved, That an attempt to vacate said charter, by 

"either party, without the consent of the other, has a 

"tendency to dissolve the union between Great Britain 

"and this province, to destroy the allegiance we owe to the 

"king, and to set aside the sacred obligations he is under 

"to his subjects here. 

"Resolved, That it is the indisputable duty of every 
"American, and more especially in this province, to unite 
"in every virtuous opposition that can be devised, in order 
"to save ourselves and posterity from inevitable ruin. 
"And, in the first place, we greatly approve of the agree- 
"ment entered and entering into through this and the 
"neighboring provinces, for the non-consumption of British 
"goods. This, we apprehend, will have a tendency to 
" convince our brethren in Britain, that more is to be gained 
"in the way of justice, from our friendship and affection, 
"than by extortion and arbitrary power. We apprehend 
"that the balance of our trade with Britain has been 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 85 

"greatly in their favor; that we can do much better with- 
"out it than they can; and that the increase of such trade 
"heretofore, was greatly occasioned by the regard and 
"affection borne by the Americans to their brethren in 
"Britain. Such an agreement, if strictly adhered to, will 
"greatly prevent extravagance, save our money, encour- 
"age our own manufactures, and reform our manners. 

"Resolved, That those justices of the court of general 
"sessions, and common pleas, for this county, who, in a 
"late address to his excellency Governor Gage, aspersed 
"the good people of this county, have thereby discovered 
"that they were destitute of that tender regard which we 
"might justly expect in our present distressed situation. 
"Voted. That we most earnestly recommend it to 
"the several towns in this county, (and if it should not be 
"thought too arrogant,) to every town in the province, 
"to meet and adopt some wise, prudent, and spirited 
"measures, in order to prevent the execution of those 
"most alarming acts of parliament respecting our consti- 
tution." 
On August 26th, delegates from the counties of Wor- 
cester, Middlesex and Essex, met at Boston the committee 
of correspondence of that city and resolved: "That all such 
"officers or private persons as have given sufficient proof 
"of their enmity to the people and constitution of this 
"country, should be held in contempt, and that those who 
"are connected with them ought to separate from them: 
"laborers to shun vineyards; merchants, husbandmen, and 
"others, to withhold their commerce and supplies." 
Our ancestors did not shrink from enforcing obedience 
to public opinion by these methods, which their descendants 
condemn when practiced by trade-unions. 

On August 31st, the convention resolved at the Worces- 
ter County Court House: 

"Whereas, the charter of this province, as well as laws 
"enacted by virtue of the same and confirmed by royal 



86 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

"assent, have been, by the parliament of Great Britain, 
"without the least color of right or justice, declared in 
"part null and void; and in conformity to an act of said 
"parliament, persons are appointed to fill certain offices 
"of government, in ways and under influences, wholly 
"unknown before in this province, incompatible with its 
"charter, and forming a complete system of tyranny: and 
"whereas, no power on earth hath a right, without the 
"consent of this province, to alter the minutest title of 
"its charter, or abrogate any act whatsoever, made in 
"pursuance of it, and confirmed by royal assent, or to 
"constitute officers of government in ways not directed 
"by charter, and as we are assured that some officers of the 
" executive courts in this county, have officially conducted 
"in compliance with and in conformity to the late acts of 
"parliament altering our free constitution; and as the 
"sittings of such courts may have a tendency to affect 
"the good people of this county, in such manner as may 
"insensibly lead them to submit to the chains of slavery 
"forged by our enemies; therefore, 

"1. Resolved, That it is the indispensable duty of the 
"inhabitants of this county, by the best ways and means, 
"to prevent the sitting of the respective courts under 
"such regulations as are set forth in a late act of parlia- 
"ment, entitled, an act for regulating the civil government 
"of the Massachusetts Bay. 

"2. Resolved, That in order to prevent the execution 
"of the late act of parliament, respecting the courts, that 
"it be recommended to the inhabitants of this county, 
"to attend, in person, the next inferior court of common 
"pleas and general sessions, to be holden at Worcester, 
"in and for said county, on the sixth day of September next. 

"3. Resolved, That it be recommended to the several 
"towns, that they choose proper and suitable officers, and 
"a sufficient number, to regulate the movements of each 
"town, and prevent any disorder which might otherwise 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 87 

" happen; and that it be enjoined in the inhabitants of each 
"respective town, that they adhere strictly to the orders 
"and directions of such officers. 

"4. And whereas, the courts of justice will necessarily 
"be impeded by the opposition to the said acts of parlia- 
"ment, therefore, Resolved, that it be recommended to the 
"inhabitants of this province in general, and to those of 
"this county in particular, that they depute fit persons 
"to represent them in one general provincial convention, 
"to be convened at Concord, on the second Tuesday of 
" October next, to devise proper ways and means to resume 
"our original mode of government, whereby the most 
"dignified servants were, as they ever ought to be, de- 
pendent on the people for their existence as such; or 
"some other which may appear to them best calculated 
"to regain and secure our violated rights. The justice 
"of our complaints and the modes of redress, we submit 
"to the determination of our sister colonies, being, in our 
" opinion, the only just tribunal we can appeal to on earth. 

"5. Resolved, That it be recommended, that such 
"innholders and retailers, who shall be approbated by the 
" selectmen in their respective towns, continue and exercise 
"their respective functions; provided, they strictly adhere 
"to the law of this province respecting innholders and 
"retailers. 

"6. Resolved. That it be recommended to the several 
"towns, that they indemnify their constables for neglecting 
"to return lists of persons qualified to serve as jurors. 

"7. Resolved, That as the ordinary course of justice 
"must be stayed, in consequence of the late arbitrary and 
"oppressive acts of the British parliament, we would 
"earnestly recommend to every inhabitant of this county, 
"to pay his just debts as soon as may be possible, without 
"any disputes or litigation. 

"8. Resolved, That as the dark and gloomy aspect of 
"our public affairs has thrown this province into great 



88 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

"convulsions, and the minds of the people are greatly 
"agitated with the near view of impending ruin; we 
"earnestly recommend to every one, and we engage our- 
" selves, to use the utmost influence in suppressing all 
"riotous and disorderly proceedings in our respective 
"towns." 

It was also "Voted, That if there is an invasion, or 
"danger of an invasion, in any town in this county, then 
"such town as is invaded, or being in danger thereof, shall, 
"by their committees of correspondence, or some other 
"proper persons, send letters, by express posts, imine- 
''diately, to the committees of the adjoining towns, who 
"shall send to other committees in the towns adjoining 
"them, that they all come properly armed and accoutred 
"to protect and defend the place invaded. 

"Voted, That it be recommended to the towns in this 
"county, to pay no regard to the late act of parliament, 
"respecting the calling town meetings, but, to proceed 
"in their usual manner; and also, that they pay no sub- 
" mission to any acts altering our free constitution. 

"Voted, That it be recommended to each town of the 
"county, to retain in their own hands, what moneys may 
"be due from them severally to the province treasury, 
"till public tranquility be restored, and more confidence 
"can be reposed in the first magistrate and his council. 
"Voted, To postpone the consideration of the petition of 
"Doct. William Paine, respecting the establishment of 
"a hospital for the small pox, to the adjournment of this 
"meeting. 

"Voted, That each member will purchase at least two 
"pounds of powder in addition to any he may have on 
"hand, and will use all his exertions to supply his neighbors 
"fully. 

"Voted, That the members and delegates endeavor to 
"ascertain what number of guns are deficient to arm the 
"people in case of invasion." 



; 




HON. ROGER FOSTER 89 

On September 6th, a convention met at the house of 

Mr. Timothy Bigelow. It was " Voted, As the opinion of this 

"convention, that the court should not sit on any terms. 

" Voted, That the several committees inform the people 
"of their respective towns, of this vote of the convention, 
"and, that they choose one man from each company, as a 
"committee to wait on the judges to inform them of the 
"resolution to stop the courts sitting, if the people concur 
"therein. 

" Voted, That the body of the people in this county 
"now in town, assemble on the common. 

" Voted, To choose a committee of three persons to 
"inquire of the committees of the towns, how long it will 
"be before they make the determination of the body of the 
"people respecting the courts, known to the judges, and 
"to inform the convention thereof. 

" Voted, To adjourn to the green beyond Mr. Salisbury's, 
"where the convention proceeded. 

"Voted, That a committee of three, viz.: Capt. Man- 
"dell, Deacon Rawson, and Mr. Samuel Jennison, be a 
"committee to inform the grand jurors of the determina- 
"tion of the county as to the courts being held. 

"Voted, to adjourn to the court house at two o'clock, 
"P. M. 

"Afternoon. 

"Met according to adjournment, and again adjourned 
"to the green, to attend the body of the people. 

"Voted, To choose a committee of three persons to 
"proceed to wait on the committees of the towns, to inquire 
"the occasion of the delay of the judges in making their 
"appearance before the body of the people. 

" Voted, That three persons be chosen a committee, to 
"acquaint John Chandler, Esq., and the other protesters, 
"that they must follow after the judges through the ranges 
"of the body of the people; that they go immediately 
"after the judges, and read their recantations." 



90 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

At that time, the people from Brookfield, New Braintree 
and other towns of the county, to the number of about six 
thousand, had assembled on the green. The town companies 
were under officers of their own election and marched in 
military order. The people then formed in two lines and 
the royalists, justices and other officers were forced to pass 
between them, stopping at intervals to read the following 
declaration : 

"Worcester, Sept. 6, 1774. 
"Worcester, ss. The justices of the inferior court, and 
"justices of the court of general sesssions of the peace, 
"for the county of Worcester, to the people of the county, 
"now assembled at Worcester: 

"Gentlemen: — You having desired, and even insisted 
"upon it, that all judicial proceedings be stayed by the 
"justices of the court appointed this day, by law, to be 
"held at Worcester, within and for the county of Worces- 
ter, on account of the unconstitutional act of the British 
"parliament, respecting the administration of justice in 
"this province, which, if effected, will reduce the inhabi- 
"tants thereof to mere arbitrary power; we do assure you, 
"that we will stay all such judicial proceedings of said courts, 
"and will not endeavor to put said act into execution." 
The protestors, who were forty-three royalists of Wor- 
cester, had persuaded the town clerk to enter on its records 
their protests to some of the previous resolutions. At a 
subsequent meeting, the clerk was obliged to obliterate this 
entry. After he had drawn his pen through the line and it 
was found that they could still be read, his fingers were 
dipped in the ink-pot and rubbed over the page until it 
became absolutely illegible. At the meeting on the green, 
the convention further "Voted, That it be recommended to 
"the military officers in this county, that they resign their 
"commissions to the colonels of the respective regiments. 
" Voted, That the field officers resign their offices, and 
"publish resignations in all the Boston newspapers. 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 91 

" Voted, That it be recommended to the several towns of 
"the county, to choose proper officers for the military of 
"the town, and a sufficient number. 

" Voted, That it be recommended to the several towns 
"and districts of this county, that they provide themselves, 
"immediately, with one or more field pieces, mounted 
"and fitted for use; and also a sufficient quantity of amrau- 
"nition for the same; and that the officers appoint a 
"suitable number of men, out of their respective com- 
"panies, to manage said field pieces. 

" Voted, To take notice of those justices of the inferior 
"court of common pleas and general sessions of the peace 
"of this county, who aspersed the people in a late address 

"to Gov. Gage." 

* ******** * 

" Voted, That it be recommended to the officers of each 
"company of the people assembled, to keep good order; 
"enjoin it on their men not to do the least damage to any 
"persons' property; but to march quietly home: and 
"that the convention have nothing further to lay before 
"them. 

"Voted, That Deacon Rawson, Mr. Asa Whitcomb, and 
"Doct. Crosby, be a committee to wait on a number of 
"justices, to give them an opportunity to sign the decla- 
ration, which has been signed by the justices and officers 
"of the inferior court." 

On September 7th, a number of judges were brought 
before the convention and made to sign the following declar- 
ation: "Whereas the committees in convention have ex- 
pressed their uneasiness to a number of the justices of 
"the common pleas and general sessions, now present in 
"the convention, who, in an address to Governor Gage, 
"at their session in June last, aspersed the people of this 
"county; those justices, in the presence of the convention, 
"frankly declare that they precipitately entered into the 
"measure; they are sorry for it; and they disclaim an 



92 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

"intention to injure the character of any; and were the 
"same measure again proposed they should reject it." 
On September 8th, a meeting of the blacksmiths of the 
county, to the number of forty-three, was held. They 
formed and subscribed resolutions, saying that they " sol- 
emnly covenant, agree and engage to and with each 
"other, that from and after the first day of December, 
" 1774, we will not, according to the best of our knowledge, 
"any or either of us, nor any person by our directions, 
"order or approbation, for or under any or either of us, 
"do or perform, any blacksmith's work, or business of any 
" kind whatever, for any person or persons whom we esteem 
"enemies to this country, commonly known by the name 
"of tories, viz.: all councillors in this province appointed 
"by mandamus, who have not publicly resigned said office, 
"also every person who addressed Governor Hutchinson 
"on his departure from this province, who has not publicly 
"recanted; also every officer exercising authority by virtue 
"of any commission tending to carry any of the late op- 
pressive acts of parliament into execution in America: 
"and, in particular, we will not do any work for Timothy 
"Ruggles of Hardwick, John Murray of Rutland, and 
"James Putnam of Worcester, Esquires: nor for any person 
"or persons cultivating, tilling, improving, dressing, hiring, 
" or occupying any of their lands or tenements. Also, we 
"agree to refuse our work of every kind, as aforesaid, to 
"all and every person or persons who shall not have signed 
"the non-consumption agreement, or have entered into a 
" similar contract or engagement, or that shall not strictly 
"conform to the association or covenant agreed upon and 
"signed by the Continental Congress lately convened at 
"Philadelphia." 
The first pastor of the Second Precinct of Brookfield, 
Eli Forbes, whose former name was Forbush, was, to say the 
least, too lukewarm in his patriotism. Some of his parish- 
ioners hooted him as a tory, threw stones at his chair and one 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 93 

night, left a pot of tar and a bag of feathers upon his door- 
steps. He took the hint and resigned. 

On September 21st, the county convention "Resolved, 
"That as the ordinary courts of justice will be stayed, in 
"consequence of the late arbitrary and oppressive acts 
"of the British parliament, we would earnestly recommend 
"to every inhabitant of this county, to pay his just debts, 
"as soon as possible, without any dispute or litigation, 
'"and if any disputes concerning debts or trespasses should 
"arise, which cannot be settled by the parties, we recom- 
"mend it to them to submit all such causes to arbitration; 
"and if the parties, or either of them, shall refuse to do so, 
"they ought to be considered as co-operating with the 
"enemies of the country." 

"Voted, That it be recommended to the several towns 
"in this county, to choose proper military officers, and 
"a sufficient number for each town, and that the captains, 
"lieutenants, and ensigns, who are chosen by the people 
"in each regiment, do convene, on or before the tenth day 
"of October next, at some convenient place in each regi- 
"ment, and choose their field officers to command the 
"militia until they be constitutionally appointed, and 
"that it be recommended to the officers in each town of the 
"county, to enlist one third of the men of their respective 
"towns, between sixteen and sixty years of age, to be 
"ready to act at a minute's warning; and that it be recom- 
" mended to each town in the county, to choose a sufficient 
"number of men as a committee to supply and support 
"those troops that shall move on any emergency." 

" Voted, That it be recommended to the company officers 
"of the minute men, to meet at Worcester, on the 17th 
"of October next, at ten o'clock of the forenoon, to propor- 
tion their own regiments, and choose as many field officers 
"as they shall think necessary. 

" Voted, That it be recommended to the justices of the 
"county, that they liberate any persons confined in jail 



94 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

"for debt, who are entitled to such liberation by the laws 
"of the province." 
And a remonstrance to General Gage was prepared and 
sent on December 6th : " Voted, To recommend to the sev- 
"eral towns in this county, to give it in charge to their 
"constables and collectors, on their peril, not to pay any 
"public moneys to Harrison Gray, Esq., late treasurer of 
"this province, and to indemnify them for paying it where 
"the towns shall order them to pay. 

"Voted, That the inhabitants of each town in this 
"county, order their assessors not to return any certificates 
"of the lists of assessments made by them, to Harrison 
"Gray, Esq., late treasurer of the province, and that 

"they indemnify them therefor." 

* ******** * 

"Voted, To choose a committee of nine persons, any 
"two of whom to go to the field officers of the county of 
Worcester, to know the reason why they have not resigned 
"their commissions to the governor, and published such 
"resignation in the Boston newspapers, agreeably to a 
"vote of this convention at a former meeting, and demand 
"a categorical answer, whether they will comply or not 
"with said requisition, and make report to this body at 
"their next meeting." 

On January 27th, the following: "Whereas, Isaac 
"Jones of Weston, in the county of Middlesex, innholder 
"and trader, has, by his conduct of late years, in various 
"instances, manifested a disposition inimical to the rights 
"and privileges of his countrymen: therefore, 

"Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to all the 
"inhabitants of this county, not to have any commercial 
" connections with said Isaac Jones, but to shun his house 
" and person, and treat him with that contempt he deserves, 
"and should any persons in this county be so lost to a sense 
"of their duty, after this recommendation, as to have any 
"commercial connection or dealings with said Jones, we 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 95 

"do advise the inhabitants of this county to treat such 
"persons with the utmost neglect." 
On May 31st, 1775, when Captain Baldwin of Brookfield 
was clerk pro tempore: "Resolved, That a committee be 
"appointed, to take into consideration the subject of allow- 
ing those who are inimical to the country, to exercise the 
"right of voting in town meetings." 
In September, 1774, Captain Baldwin and Captain 
Phinehas Upham were elected delegates to the Provincial 
Congress, to be held at Concord in October, and Judge Foster 
to represent the town at the General Court at Salem in the 
same month, which, upon the proclamation by Governor 
Gage revoking his call of this assembly, resolved itself, with 
the delegates specially elected for that purpose, into the First 
Provincial Congress. They with others were also chosen a 
committee of correspondence. In December, Judge Foster 
was elected delegate to the Provincial Congress, to be held 
at Cambridge the next February. At the same meeting, it 
was "Voted unanimously that this town do fully approve 
" of the association of the Continental Congress, and that 
"they will strictly adhere to the same in all respects." 
"Minute or Picquit-men" were organized. Brookfield 
soldiers marched to Lexington, fought at Bunker Hill and 
served their country throughout the Revolutionary War; 
some at Valley Forge. Two of the most distinguished engi- 
neers in the Continental Army were General Rufus Putnam 
and Colonel Jeudethan Baldwin, who had acquired their 
education in the last French and Indian War. New Brain- 
tree and the other towns of Worcester County then also 
rendered great services to the country. 

Brookfield had great influence in the Provincial Congress 
of Massachusetts. Jedediah Foster served on the commit- 
tees appointed by the First and Second Congress to "take 
into consideration the state of the province"; upon the com- 
mittee "to consider what is necessary to be done for the 
defence and the safety of the province"; upon that to receive 



96 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

returns from the town committees of correspondence of 
Worcester County; upon the one that provided a method for 
the collection and payment of outstanding taxes, the pay- 
ment of which to the former Treasurer had been forbidden 
because that officer was in sympathy with the Crown ; upon 
one to take into consideration the expediency of establishing 
post offices and riders ; and upon others to prepare a form for 
the currency and to supervise the engraving, with authority 
given him to countersign the larger notes. His experience 
in preparing resolutions and reports of Brookfield meetings 
and in the General Court, caused his constant selection to 
prepare and revise resolutions, reports and other documents, 
including an appeal to the Continental Congress; to prepare, 
for the use of the delegation to the Continental Congress, 
statistics of the population of the province and of the amount 
of its exports and imports; to select such resolves and orders 
of the Provincial Congress as were proper for publication; 
and to prepare for publication, a narrative of the excursion 
of the King's troops, which occasioned the fight at Lexington 
and Concord, together with depositions in support of the 
same. His reputation for diplomacy was the cause of his 
appointment as one of the two delegates to repair to Con- 
necticut, to inform that colony "that we are contemplating 
"upon, and are determined to take effectual measures for 
"that purpose," security and defense, "and for the more 
"effectual security of the New England colonies and the 
"continent, to request them to co-operate with us, by 
"furnishing their respective quotas for general defence." 
The fact, that he was from Brookfield and his experience 
there in equipping the troops for the French and Indian War, 
secured his appointment upon all of the important commit- 
tees concerning military affairs, including the organization of 
the artillery and the recommendation of a form of military 
exercise. A resolution drawn by him was adopted, recom- 
mending "to the inhabitants of this province, that in order 
"to their perfecting themselves in the military art, they 




X 

C 



ra o 



£ 2 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 97 

"proceed in the method ordered by his majesty in the year 
" 1764, it being, in the opinion of this Congress, best cal- 
culated for appearance and defence." He was also a 
member of committees to prepare the oath of office to admin- 
ister to generals, and the commission for General Artemas 
Ward, and during the recess of the First and Second 
Provincial Congress, to prepare a plan for the regulation and 
discipline of the militia. He brought to the Third 
Congress some mineral earth, discovered in large 
quantities in Brookfield, which contained matter use- 
ful for the production of nitre, and an officer was 
sent to the town to make experiments there. On June 12th, 
1775, he and two others were appointed "to repair to the 
"fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, on Lake 
"Champlain, to inquire into the importance of holding 
"those posts, and also into the method by which they are 
"maintained; to establish there, in the pay of said colony, 
"so many men to defend the same posts as they should 
"judge necessary, not exceeding four hundred; and the 
"said committee were also, by said Congress directed, 
"when they should have made themselves fully acquainted 
"with the situation and importance of said posts, respec- 
tively to signify their thoughts thereon." Ticonderoga 
had, a short time before, been surrendered to Ethan Allen, 
upon his demand "in the name of the great Jehovah and the 
Continental Congress." A serious difficulty had arisen be- 
tween him and Benedict Arnold, in which Arnold claimed 
the right to command under orders of Massachusetts and 
Allen under the authority of Connecticut. The Continental 
Congress had recommended that the stores at Ticonderoga be 
removed to the southern end of Lake George. The colony 
of New York was in favor of this. But in New England, it 
was considered of vital importance that the command of 
Lake Champlain should be retained. A delicate and difficult 
situation consequently met the committee, which was 
heightened when they reached the ground by the refusal of 



98 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

Benedict Arnold to serve under a Connecticut officer as 
directed by the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, his 
resignation, his order for the disbandonment of the men 
whom he had raised; and by their threatened mutiny. The 
committee guaranteed these men their pay and enlisted four 
hundred to defend the lake. They reported accordingly to 
the Provincial Congress, with a schedule of the military stores 
which they had found. 

"Your committee are of opinion, that the maintaining 
"of those ports is of the utmost importance to the security 
" of the colony of New York and the New England colonies, 
"which was a sufficient inducement to the committee to 
"continue in the pay of this colony the number of men 
"before mentioned. The fortresses not being at present 
"tenable, then there must be a sufficient number of men 
"to command the lake, and prevent the enemy from land- 
"ing. Your committee are of opinion, that the best 
" security of those posts in their present state, is by armed 
"vessels of various construction, to be kept constantly 
" cruising on the lake, and small boats with swivel guns to 
"act as scouts, which will effectually prevent the army 
"from sudden surprise. Your committee have, agreeably 
"to their instructions, advised the Hon. American Con- 
"gress, the Hon. Convention of the Colony of New York, 
"and the Governor of Connecticut, by respectfully signify- 
ing to them, their opinion of the importance of the main- 
"taining those posts, and the measures for effecting the 
"same." The report was unanimously adopted and the 
committee received the thanks of the Congress for their 
services. Their work resulted in preserving the control of 
Lake Champlain for two years. 

In a town meeting May 22nd, 1776, the question was 

passed in the words of a resolve of the General Court: 

"That this Town would support the Honorable Con- 

"gress in the measure, if they for our liberty should see 

"fit to declare the colonies Independent of Great Britain." 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 99 

In March, 1777, a town meeting established the price 
of articles and labor. Amongst other items, "Farming 
"labour from the 20th day of June to the 20th day of 
"August, shall not exceed 3 shillings per day, and from the 
"20th day of Nov'r to the 20th day of Jan'y, shall not 
"exceed Is. 6d. per day. Indian corn meal shall not 
"exceed 3s. per B'., good grass-fed beef 2j^ pence per lb., 
"stall-fed do., 3d. Good butter, 934 pence per lb., firkin 
"do., 834 per lb. Good yard wide Tow cloth 2s. per yard. 
"Striped y'd wide flannel 3s. 4d. * * * A good meal 
"of meat victuals of the common sort shall not exceed 
"9d. * * * For making men's shoes shall not exceed 
"2s. 8d. per pair. * * * A Doctor shall not exceed 
"6d. (six pence) per mile in his charge in travel to visit 
"his Patience. * * * For men's common boarding 
"by the week shall not exceed 7s." In April, 1777, it 
was voted : " that the inhabitants of this town will not only 
"strictly adhere to and observe the act of the General 
"Court called the Regulating Act, But also use our ut- 
"most endeavors to detect and bring to punishment those 
"unfriendly selfish persons who at this important crisis 
"shall have the effrontery to counteract the good and 
"wholesome laws in this State." By that time, the re- 
venue was so exhausted in the enlistment and equipment 
of soldiers and care for their families, that the town was 
obliged to vote "to raise no money for schooling." Four 
years later, the citizens were unable to collect money to pay 
the thirty-three soldiers which the town had been directed 
to supply. The men were allowed to select any citizens, 
whom they might choose, as security for the performance of 
its promise by the Second Precinct. And the greater part 
of their pay was given in cattle; twenty three year olds "of 
middling bigness," to be the equivalent of £90. One-seventh 
of the ablebodied men in North Brookfield had volunteered 
or been drafted for military service. Such were some of 
the sacrifices which our ancestors of that generation 



100 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

suffered for the freedom and prosperity we now enjoy. 
Notwithstanding the overthrow of the established 
government, order was generally observed. But the two 
crimes which most disgrace the memory of Brookfield were 
committed during those troublous years. On the evening 
of March 11th, 1778, Joshua Spooner, while returning from 
Cooley's Tavern, was killed and his body thrown into his 
own well by three former soldiers, living in the house, who 
were hired to commit the crime by his wife Bathsheba. The 
four were tried and found guilty at the April term of the 
Superior Court of Judicature in Worcester before a jury and 
a full bench consisting of Chief Justice Cushing and his 
associates, Foster, Sargent, Sewell and Sullivan. The only 
report is printed from the notes of Judge Foster. The 
criminals were hung at Worcester on July 2nd of the same 
year, in the presence of thousands of people. The condition 
of the woman made her execution the subject of monstrous 
horror. In the following year, Robert Young, a Brookfield 
laborer, was convicted and hung at Worcester for a crime 
in this village, of such a character as is now usually punished 
by Lynch Law in the South. 

On May 25th, 1778, a town meeting voted "to accept 

"of the Confederacy of the Continental Congress and to 

"enjoin it to our Representatives that they consent to the 

"same." The same meeting, by a vote of eighty-four 

to twenty, concurred with a majority of the towns in this 

commonwealth by rejecting the State constitution proposed 

by the legislature. The chief cause of dissatisfaction with 

that proposition by the legislature was the apportionment 

of the members of the two houses; but there were other 

objections, many of which were formulated in proceedings 

of the Essex County Convention, held at Ipswich, April 

29th, 1778; the report of which, although now little read, 

deserves careful study by all who would understand our 

system of constitutional law. 

In the following year, Brookfield approved a State 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 101 

convention, for the sole purpose of forming a new constitu- 
tion and elected Jedediah Foster delegate to the same. He 
was appointed by the convention upon the committee to 
draft the instrument, subsequently adopted by the people. 
The town tradition, handed down from generation to 
generation, seems to establish the fact that although valuable 
assistance may have been given by John Adams, the draft of 
that great State paper in the form nearest that finally or- 
dained, was written by Judge Foster's hand in the Foster 
House on Foster's Hill. 6 That State constitution, more 
than any other, was copied by the Federal Convention in 
framing the Constitution of the United States. The doc- 

6 The grandson of John Adams with commendable filial piety has inserted in the 
former's works the first draft of that Constitution, together with the claim that it 
was entirely written by John Adams. There is no mention of this in the diary or 
autobiography of Adams, nor in any contemporaneous publication. No manuscript 
draft or copy by the second President has been found. The sole authority for the 
statement is an unpublished letter by him to W. D. Williamson, dated February 5th, 
1812, and not included in his works, nor ever published, so far as the writer can ascer- 
tain, This was written when the Ex-President was seventy-seven; when his memory 
as to what occurred in the Convention was impaired, as is admitted by Charles Francis 
Adams in another connection. (John Adams' Works, IV, p. 216); and when, as is 
often the case at that period of life, he was not inclined to excessive modesty concerning 
his earlier achievements. John Adams himself complains of the inaccuracy of his 
memory in several instances. (See, for example, his letters to Mrs. Mercy Warren of 
June 10th, 1813 and July 15th, 1814; Ibid. X, pp. 41, 99.) Moreover, in a contem- 
poraneous letter, written to Benjamin Rush November 6th, 1779 (Ibid. IX, p. 617). 
John Adams expresses regret that the committee did not adopt his wishes as to the 
composition of the legislature. He is undoubtedly entitled to full credit for the inser- 
tion in the draft of an extraordinary clause giving to the governor the right to an 
absolute veto, the power which had long since become obsolete in England. (See 
Defense of the Constitution of the Government of the United States of America, Vol. 
I, Ch. III.) 

On the other hand, the tradition of Brookfield that the draft of the instrument 
was written by Jedediah Foster is corroborated by the statement in the Boston Gazette 
of November 9th, 1779: that his death was hastened by his labors upon that instrument. 

Both John Adams and Jedediah Foster were members of the Committee of Thirty 
selected by the Convention to draft the Constitution. There is no record of the pro- 
ceedings of that committee, except the draft contained in their report, which was first 
published in 1832 and was afterwards reprinted as part of the Works of John Adams. 
Judge Foster died October 17th, 1779, eleven days before the report was presented to 
the Convention. John Adams sailed for Europe November 13th, 1779, two weeks 
after the presentation of the report, while it was still under discussion. 

It is believed that to any dispassionate mind acquainted with the writings of both, 
the style of the document will appear to resemble that of the older more nearly than 
that of the younger statesman. It is smoother than the authentic writings of John 
Adams. 



102 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

trine of the separation of the three powers, the Judicial, 
Legislative and Executive; the modification of the royal 
veto, so as to authorize it when exercised by the governor, 
to be overruled by two-thirds of each legislative 
house; the express ordinance that revenue bills should origi- 
nate in the lower house with power in the Senate to amend 
the same; that concerning the suspension of the writ of 
habeas corpus and other provisions, were there before they 
appeared in any other written constitution of the world. 
The declaration "to the end that this may be a government 
of laws not of man," which was borrowed from Harrington, 
has become an imperishable maxim of constitutional juris- 
prudence. This is said to have been Brookfield's contribu- 
tion to the constitutional history of the world. 

Jedediah Foster did not live to see his final work ratified 
by the people. While engaged upon his mission on behalf 
of Massachusetts to Fort Ticonderoga, he had crossed Lake 
Champlain in an open boat during a storm and received a 
chill, resulting in an illness from the effects of which he never 
recovered. His illness was increased by the confinement, 
necessitated by his labor upon the constitution. And he 
died October 17th, 1779, at the age of fifty-five. 

His leadership passed to his third son, Dwight, then 
only twenty-two years of age, who was graduated at Brown 
University five years before and after teaching school at 
New Braintree and elsewhere and military service in the 
defence of New England was then practicing law at Provi- 
dence. Immediately upon his father's death, he returned 
to Brookfield. He presided at the town meeting in the 
following May to consider the new constitution. He was 
elected to succeed his father as delegate to the Constitution- 
al Convention, and in the State Legislature. He was a 
member of the Lower House of Congress for seven years, 
1793-1800, during the second administration of Washington 
and the administration of John Adams. He was in the 
Senate of the United States during four succeeding years, 



HON. ROGER FOSTP^R 103 

1800 to 1803 inclusive, at the end of which he resigned because 
of his ill health. He was high in the councils of the Federal- 
ist party; but on friendly terms with Thomas Jefferson; who, 
however, in his Ana, says that they became estranged be- 
cause of a conversation in 1801, during the Presidential 
election by the House, when Judge Foster, who was then a 
Senator, inquired as to Jefferson's intentions as to the navy, 
the public debt and the removal of Federal officeholders. 
While he represented Massachusetts in the Senate, his 
brother Theodore sat in the same body as Senator from 
Rhode Island. The latter became a Democrat. One of 
them was known by his colleagues as "Foster the Wise"; 
the other as "Foster the Foolish." The tradition of Brook- 
field is that the former term was applied to the Senator 
from Massachusetts. What is the tradition of Rhode Island 
on this subject, my researches have not enabled me to ascer- 
tain. No other citizen of Brookfield has been a member of 
the Senate of the United States. Jabez Upham, a son of 
Captain Upham of the French Wars, who later served in 
the House of Representatives, is the only other that has 
been a member of Congress. After Dwight Foster's return 
from the Senate, he served for ten years as Chief Justice of 
the Court of Common Pleas. He was also a member of the 
governor's council and held other State and local offices. 
He died April 29th, 1823, aged sixty-six. During his youth, 
he kept a journal; and later while in Congress, it was his 
custom by every mail, in a letter to his wife, to describe what 
he had done and seen. These manuscripts have been pre- 
served, but have not been printed, although they afford 
much valuable information concerning the manners of his 
time. Such of the records as remain show his constant 
interest in the affairs of the town. He usually acted as 
moderator at its meetings. He was also the source from 
which his neighbors drew advice, practical as well as juridical. 
Tradition says that during the latter part of his life, whenever 
he was strong enough to see his neighbors in the ell added to 



104 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

the old house by his father, for an office, Foster's Hill was 
black with carriages. 

In May, 1780, by a vote of one hundred and forty-three 
against eleven, the town ratified the new constitution, upon 
which he and his father had labored. At the following 
election in September, only one vote was cast against the 
Federalist, John Hancock for governor, although there was 
a tie between the candidates for the State Senate. 

Brookfield has been always a believer also in a strong 
national government. In 1784, its representative in the 
General Court was instructed "if we mean to support our 
"dignity as a nation every effort ought to be used to 
"strengthen the union and render the bonds indissolu- 
ble." During the same year, Brookfield celebrated 
the Fourth of July for the first time. There was a barbecue 
of an ox, roasted with hoofs and horns, on West Brookfield 
plain. It was served with bread and plenty of rum and 
water, accompanied by the successive explosions of thirteen 
large chestnut logs. 

But the town's sacrifices to secure independence left 
the citizens in a condition of great poverty after the success 
of the Revolution. Money was so scarce that cattle were 
used for currency, as was the custom in prehistoric times. 
Beef was rarely eaten, and when cooked was boiled, since the 
waste of its juice on the spit or gridiron was considered a 
ruinous extravagance. A dish of hash at an evening party 
was a great luxury. Bean porridge was the usual food and 
white bread was rarely seen. In one family, it did not appear 
on the table during ten years. In 1798, there was but one 
brick house in Brookfield. No vehicle was driven from 
Boston to Springfield until the end of the Eighteenth Cen- 
tury. Till then, no more than four two-wheeled chaises 
were owned there; an increase of but one in fifty years. 
And before 1812, no wagon here had springs. It is therefore 
not unnatural that Shay's Rebellion, which opposed the 
collection of debts, had some supporters here and in the 




Thomas G. Richards Patrick J. Daniels 

Alfred C. Stoddard 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 105 

adjacent towns. Daniel Shays, after whom the movement 
was named, was once a hired man of Daniel Gilbert in North 
Brookfield and is said to have there married Abigail Gilbert. 
Captain Francis Stone, whose father was killed at the siege 
of Quebec under General Wolfe, and who himself acquired 
a reputation in the War of the Revolution, furnished most 
of the brains and wrote the proclamations. A large company 
of Brookfield volunteers, including Dwight Foster, under 
Colonel Jeduthan Baldwin, transported on sleighs, aided 
in the suppression of the revolt. Jonathan, the brother of 
Francis Stone, also took arms in support of the government. 
In December, 1786, while this war was on, a town meeting 
sent to the governor a prayer for an act of indemnity. Dur- 
ing the next month, ninety-six of the inhabitants sent him 
a protest against this vote. When the decree of amnesty 
was finally signed by Governor Hancock, Captain Stone 
returned from Vermont and enjoyed the respect of his neigh- 
bors, although he never expressed regret. His controversial 
spirit passed to one of his descendants, Lucy Stone, his 
grandaughter born in West Brookfield, in 1848, who was 
well known as an advocate of abolition and of woman's 
rights. 

During their financial distress, the investments of 
the town funds were not always such as would be approved 
by modern financiers. In March, 1791, the Second Precinct 
voted that the proceeds of the continental money in the 
hands of the treasurer be invested in tickets in the Massa- 
chusetts Monthly State Lottery. What practices that we 
now pursue without the slightest scruple will be condemned 
as immoral by succeeding generations? What acts that we 
now condemn as immoral will they consider not only per- 
missible but commendable? 

While the inhabitants of Brookfield were in the con- 
dition of poverty that has been described, no one was poorer 
or less respected or with less apparent education, than a 
girl of seventeen, who lived there in the year 1794. She 



106 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

afterwards became one of the richest women in New York. 
She is said to have been the cause of the death of Alexander 
Hamilton. She married a man who had been Vice-President 
of the United States and she died in 1865 well known as 
Madame Jumel. 

During the first twelve years of the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury, little happened here that is worthy of note. North 
Brookfield, which comprises the northeast corner and about 
one-third of the original town, was incorporated into a 
separate township by the act of February 28th, 1812. Pub- 
lic opinion was divided as to the expediency of the new 
corporation; but, after two years agitation, the petition for 
separation succeeded through the support of a political 
party, which hoped to increase its strength by the separate 
representation of this district. They were defeated, how- 
ever, at the first town election. Although the population 
of the town was largely Federalist and opposed to the War 
of 1812, the Brookfield Light Infantry Company marched 
to the defense of Boston and camped in the Rope Walk at 
South Boston for nearly two months in 1814. 

On March 3rd, 1848, the western part of the old town, 
consisting substantially of the first parish and including the 
original settlement on Foster's Hill, received a second incor- 
poration under the name of West Brookfield. The third or 
south parish in the southeast of the old town, including 
East Brookfield village, retained the original name of Brook- 
field. The original square of six miles had, by the act of 
December 3rd, 1719, been increased to an area of about 
eight miles square with an addition of 300 acres to the south 
side, which forms the rectangular piece jutting into Stur- 
bridge. Subtractions had been made of the territory trans- 
ferred to Warren, formerly called Western New Braintree 
and Ware, in 1742, 1751 and 1823 respectively. 

In the long struggle that resulted in the emancipation 
of the slaves, Brookfield, true to its traditions, early took 
a position in support of freedom. Through the influence 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 107 

of the Reverend Moses Chase, pastor of the First Church, 
Deacon Josiah Henshaw on January 26th, 1843, was excom- 
municated because of his advocacy of abolition. This was 
a not unusual practice in New England churches at that 
time. Like most ecclesiastical organizations, they were 
conservative. But as was said by an eminent and scholarly 
pastor, who later occupied the same pulpit: "It is unneces- 
sary to say that the cause of religion languished here; 
"the heart of this people 'waxed gross'; their ear grew 
"'dull of hearing'; and the Lord's chosen became 'an 
"astonishment and a hissing,' in the community — until, 
"at length the state of things became so intolerable that 
"the church, failing to secure the concurrence of the pastor 
"in the calling of a Mutual Council, was obliged to resort 
"to the extraordinary measure of an Ex-parte Council, 
"by whose advice Mr. Chase was dismissed October 28, 
" 1843, after a dreary pastorate of twenty-one and a half 
"tempestuous months." He organized a secession and 
for a short time expounded in Mr. Lampson's hall the doc- 
trine that the the slavery of the descendants of Ham was 
an essential element of Christianity, basing his argument 
upon the words of Noah: "Cursed be Canaan, a servant 
"of servants shall he be unto his brethren." But the 
town was rid of him before December of the following year, 
when his followers returned to the original flock under the 
new pastor, Leonard S. Parker. Within a month of the 
latter's installation, on January 16th, 1845, the church 
adopted resolutions condemning slavery as "a flagrant sin 
in the sight "of God, and an enormous injury to man." 

The organization of the Union Congregational Church 
at North Brookfield in 1854 was principally due to the 
sympathy that most of its members felt with the advocacy 
of abolition. 

Although mention is made of a few bigots and time- 
servers who were a disgrace to the cloth, let there be no sug- 
gestion that may reflect upon the ministry of Brookfield. 



108 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

Some of them were scholars, to whose industry we owe the 
preservation of much of the town's history. And if the tra- 
ditions of their congregations are to be believed, of nearly 
all can it be truly said: 

"For Christes lawe and his Apostles twelve 
"He taught but firste he followed it himselfe." 
Throughout our Civil War, the citizens of the Brook- 
fields proved that they had inherited from their forefathers 
devotion to the cause of liberty and union. In the war for 
the liberation of Cuba, they again made sacrifices to give 
others that independence which they themselves enjoyed. 
To describe the rise and fall of the industries upon 
which the prosperity of these towns have depended, to 
enumerate the leaders in business, politics, religion, war, and 
social life, whose presence has been an honor to their fellow 
citizens, during the last hundred years, would trespass too 
much upon the time of this patient audience. It would be 
invidious to make selections from so many who deserve 
honorable mention, some of whom I see before me. To 
make such selections adequately and judiciously would be 
beyond the powers of a speaker whose family left Brookfield 
nearly a century ago. Still you, who were his neighbors in 
his boyhood and his old age, must join with me in the regret 
that this address is not delivered by him who was the most 
distinguished citizen of Brookfield during the last fifty years, 
Daniel H. Chamberlain, lieutenant and captain during the 
Civil War; Attorney General and Governor of South Caro- 
lina; who displayed all the virtues of the Puritan. He was a 
soldier, a lawyer, a scholar, a statesman and, above all, a 
patriot. 

The sons of Brookfield are not confined to the town 
limits. They are found throughout the nation. As its 
empire has extended from a narrow fringe on the North 
Atlantic, to the Gulf, across the Great River, to the coast of 
the ocean discovered by Balboa, even to the islands of Asia, 
of which no Englishman had heard when this town was 




Carlton D. Richardson John G. Shackley 

Rev. Benson M. Frink 
Albert W. Bliss Philander Holmes 



HON. ROGER FOSTER 109 

founded, they and the other children of New England have 
led the way. The problems which they face, where the 
west meets the east, are in some respects not dissimilar to 
those with which their forefathers grappled. The Puritan, 
however, has learned sympathy and religious tolerance 
through the lapse of generations. And the most savage of 
the natives of that archipelago have received and will receive 
more humane treatment— however strong the provocation 
to cruelty — than was afforded to the Indians of Massachu- 
setts. The problems upon this continent which must soon 
be solved are far different from those that confronted the 
Puritans. The divine right of kings is dead. The struggle 
for representative institutions is over. They have spread 
as far as the empires of the Sublime Porte and the Shah. 
The Church can no longer persecute. Its weapons are no 
more than sufficient for the defense of its temporal estate 
throughout the world. The persecution that is suffered 
in the Twentieth Century is exercised by corporations which 
are not ecclesiastical. Oppression by an aristocracy has 
ceased, but democracy has a more powerful enemy in plu- 
tocracy. Aristocracy was controlled by the traditions of 
the past, which established a code of honor that, although 
in many respects false, still recognized some obligations to 
magnanimity and generosity. A plutocracy which is igno- 
rant of the names of its grandfathers and is ashamed of the 
fact that its fathers used a pick and shovel, does not under- 
stand the meaning of the word tradition, respects no code 
except that enforced by the criminal law and does not have 
the right to be called democratic, because it is vulgar. The 
time has passed when a duke had the power to force a man 
out of an English county. A Captain of Industry who, by 
unfair trade and legislative corruption, has usurped the 
control of a branch of manufacture, can now drive an ob- 
noxious competitor out of business in the United States. 
He can destroy the prosperity of a city by the removal of a 
factory or by a discrimination in the price of carriage. He 



110 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

can compel the subservience of its citizens by the threat of 
his displeasure. Monopolies are no longer granted to the 
flatterers of kings. They exist, however, in this republic, 
built up by statutes procured from the people's representa- 
tives by corruption and drafted in deceptive and fraudulent 
language by counsellors of high repute. The highwayman 
no longer infests our roads and the robber baron does not 
exist to levy toll upon passing merchandise. Those who 
withhold cars from the manufacturer, keeping him from 
fulfilling his contracts and forcing him toward bankruptcy, 
until he gives them a share in his profits, reap a richer harvest 
The stories told in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 
of the extortions and extravagances of the farmers of public 
revenues, are insignificant beside those of the controllers of 
public utilities that we daily read in the financial reports 
and the society columns of our newspapers. The rules of 
our criminal law, which developed in the struggle by the 
judges to protect the weak from oppression and to save the 
innocent, are now obstacles against the conviction of the 
powerful who are guilty and the strong who are oppressors. 
To remedy these evils; to prevent violence and fraud from 
continuing to amass huge bulks of riches, which exceed the 
dreams of the avarice of former generations; to check the 
oppressive use of wealth after its acquisition; without at 
the same time destroying property itself, or removing the 
incentives that alone preserve most of mankind from in- 
dolence and improvidence, without weakening the founda- 
tions of society, upon which civilization has grown from 
barbarism : this is a task that will require all the intelligence, 
courage and devotion of the descendants of the Puritans. 
Their hereditary obedience to conscience, regardless of a 
public opinion that they deem to be perverted, should make 
them face unperturbed the storm of sneers, obloquy and 
abuse from hired advocates and a subsidized press. The 
patience and courage that enabled their ancestors to conquer 
the wilderness and refound this town after its destruction; 



MME. BATCHELLER — GOV. DRAPER 111 

to endure the miseries and discouragement of Valley Forge; 
to brave uncrushed the enormous weight of public disappro- 
bation, in the exercise of which the respectable class of the 
community even denied the hope of religious salvation to 
some of the abolitionists; should prevent their sinking in 
the slough of despond, after the repeated failure of their 
earlier efforts. For the encouragement of traits of character 
like these, not because of vainglorious living in the past, 
it is right that the deeds and virtues of our forefathers should 
be honored at stated anniversaries. The descendants of 
the citizens of Brookfield may fitly say: "One generation 

"shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy 

"mighty acts." 

Mme. Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller 

Mme. Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller received an ovation, 
as, at the close of Mr. Foster's oration, she rose to sing. Her 
highly cultivated voice and the artistic perfection of her 
singing made her appearance one of the most delightful fea- 
tures of the afternoon. She graciously responded to an en- 
core with a charming rendering of "The Last Rose of Sum- 
mer." 

Governor Eben S. Draper 

When His Excellency, Governor Eben S. Draper, ap- 
peared upon the platform, the audience rose to its feet with 
a cheer that could have left him no doubt of their hearty 
support. He said: 

"What a great relief it is to stand up once in a while at 
a ball game. The same, I suppose, applies to the recent 
courtesy you extended me, and on that account I am glad 
you showed me that mark of respect. 

"Coming here today, I am not expected to give a talk 
concerning historic Brookfield. That has been done by the 



112 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

previous orator far better than I could possibly do. The 
history of your town for 250 years is the history of the Com- 
monwealth. Any town that has been incorporated this 
length of time has been through experiences well illustrating 
the story of the Commonwealth and its growth. 

"Your town went through the Indian wars; massacres 
were abroad in the land; women, men and children were 
ruthlessly destroyed with frequency, and existence was a 
continual battle. This warfare developed one great prin- 
ciple, that of depending on each other. No family could 
hope to withstand the onslaughts of the savage foe, or con- 
tend successfully with the Indians by itself. 

"Later the people, as a result of their combinations 
against their foes, came into a closer union. When the col- 
onies found they had grievances against their lord and king, 
they discovered that they must combine to get their rights. 
These independent States, which found they had no inter- 
dependence, combined for the common foe. The colonies, 
as they then were, fought to a successful issue the War of 
Independence, and finally a union in embryo was born. 

"From the first, State rights were considered most im- 
portant. Each State was jealous of giving up any rights, 
and it was long a mooted question whether the union was a 
nation or a confederation of sovereign States. The Civil 
War settled the question of whether this is a nation or not, 
in the affirmative, once and for all. 

"The War of 1812 found us a homogeneous people. 
The citizens came at that time from European countries 
having common traditions and language, and with the same 
aims. 

"The question of slavery later arose and was settled. 
When I go to a gathering of this sort and see so many men 
wearing the button of the Grand Army, living veterans of 
that notable struggle, the greatest war in all history, I realize 
that I stand in the presence of men connected with the 
grandest event in American annals. I revere all of them. 




Frank E. Prouty Emerson H. Stoddard 

Arthur F. Butterworth 
Arthur H. Drake William Mulcahy 



GOV. DRAPER — CONG. GILLETT 113 

"Today we have no war, but the questions before us 
as a nation are all the more important on that account. You 
are a New England people. You know the problems of to- 
day which you will have to settle are vastly different from 
those of our forefathers. Now all our immigrants come 
from a world-wide sweep, they speak all tongues, are of all 
religions and all degrees of intelligence. Many of them do 
not know what freedom means. They think liberty is li- 
cense, not having learned the lesson that all liberty must be 
founded in a respect for law. 

"I agree with the previous speaker on the dangers of 
plutocracy, and in my opinion it must be settled by the proper 
training of the youth of our land, as the citizens of the future. 

"This mass of humanity being dumped upon our shores 
must be made to imbibe the true spirit of liberty, before we 
can teach them to be intelligent American citizens. I am 
an optimist, not a pessimist. There are no terrors of mind 
to be called up by the conditions we have before us, but we 
must face the issue, just the same. We may have a little 
trouble in settling our difficulties, but a people, which has 
been through as much trouble as we have need not fear some 
more of the same sort. 

"You must settle this question through your children 
and their training. See that they are brought up to know 
the pride of being an American citizen. You have a duty to 
see that they are worthy of you and your fathers. 

"Then Massachusetts will stand, as she does today, in 
the lead of the greatest procession of States on God's green 
earth. " 

Congressman Frederick H. Gillett 

Congressman Frederick H. Gillett commenced his re- 
marks by quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes on the transi- 
toriness of most things after the lapse of a hundred years. 
Brookfield, he said, appeared to be one great exception to 



114 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

the old adage that aged things run slowly and finally decay. 
He continued: 

"I cannot help contrasting the condition of our ances- 
tors, as pictured by the orator of the afternoon, and our con- 
dition of life today. There are certain traits of the Pilgrim 
Fathers from which we are glad to escape. They were crus- 
ty, and no doubt the Pilgrim mothers had much to endure 
from them, in addition to the rigors and privations of the 
New England settlement. 

"The Pilgrims and the Puritans would be amazed and 
bewildered at the changes which the years have wrought. 
Much as we are disposed to grumble at the high cost of living, 
and other modern conditions, yet, looking back, we have 
much to be thankful for. Compare the conditions in Eng- 
land at the time the Colonists came from that country with 
the conditions that surround the humblest workingman and 
cottager today. The greatest nobleman of two hundred 
and fifty years ago would stand in envy before the cottage 
comforts we now possess throughout our land. 

"We live better now than we did in those days. We 
have our hot and cold water, and the countless little things 
that go to make up the comforts of the modern house, and 
little thought is given to the progress that has been made. 
The Puritans would say that this age gives to the humblest 
laborer a better living than they ever received or than ever 
was given the wealthiest plutocrat of ancient times. Let 
us be thankful. 

"The Pilgrims might consider us frivolous, but they 
would decide that we had maintained their fundamentals of 
public schools and education, which in every State are the 
cornerstones of civil and religious liberty." 

Hon. Charles G. Washburn 

Hon. Charles G. Washburn of Worcester spoke without 
notes; the following brief abstract will indicate the trend of 
his remarks: 



HON. C. G. WASHBURN — MAYOR JAMES LOGAN 115 

He spoke humorously of his regret in not being permitted 
to represent West Brookfield in the revised Congressional 
districting. He dwelt upon the austere and somber qualities 
of the Pilgrims and the Puritans, in whom were to be found 
the incarnation of conscience, an influence that had leavened 
the whole lump of our National life. He spoke of the vast 
scale upon which we are demonstrating in this country the 
success of a democratic form of government, and in this 
connection referred to the Oriental method — conquest 
without incorporation; the Roman method — conquest with 
incorporation but without representation; the Teutonic, or 
English method, which was based upon the principle of 
representation, the only form of government which can 
achieve national unity on a large scale without weakening 
or destroying the sense of local independence. He said that 
while he had no quarrel with a broad federal spirit, we should, 
with our enormous foreign immigration, insist upon inde- 
pendence in local affairs so essential if the fundamental prin- 
ciples of a democratic form of government are not to be sub- 
verted. 

Mayor James Logan 

Mayor James Logan, of Worcester, was the last speaker. 
He said: 

"The towns that surround the city of Worcester have 
contributed their full share to the wonderful material growth 
of the city. They have sent and are still sending their 
brightest and best, the young men and women of sterling 
worth, on whom the world can lean, and lean hard, the pro- 
duct of the godly home and the hill-town Christian church. 
It is from such springs of virtue, integrity, and ambition, 
rising far up in the hill-towns of the country, that the great 
reservoir of city life has been fed. 

"It is because of the new blood which has been poured 
into the cities from the country towns during all these years, 
that the body politic has been kept strong and healthy. 



116 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

"So I say it is fitting and proper, on an occasion like 
this, that the chief executive of the city of Worcester should 
be given an opportunity to look into the faces of the men and 
women, fathers and mothers, many of whom have given to 
the great city their sons and daughters, who have helped to 
make a city over which any man might thank God and be 
reasonably proud that it was his privilege to preside and 
serve. 

"So I come to you today, not alone to extend the greet- 
ings of the city of Worcester, but to return thanks for the 
services rendered by the men and women who have done 
their part to create the Worcester that now is, thus laying 
deep and broad the strong foundations of the Worcester that 
is yet to be. 

" In the language of some countries there is no word that 
corresponds with our word 'home'; that word, with all its 
sacred, tender memories, is ours. Some languages have no 
word that corresponds with our word 'citizen.' The word 
that they must use corresponds with our word 'subject,' and 
there is a vast difference between being a subject and being 
a citizen. 

"In like manner, no nation on the face of the globe has 
a word, with perhaps the exception of 'Christmas,' around 
which there cluster so many sad, sweet and joyous memories 
as cluster around the word 'Thanksgiving,' and today in the 
Brookfields we are having an Old Home Week and Thanks- 
giving combined in one. 

"Those days come to us who have been reared in New 
England, with the sweet fragrance of the piney woods of our 
dear old New England hills. They come to us laden with 
the best traditions of the noblest section of this land we love. 

"On this day the fire burns brightly upon the old hearth- 
stone and the thoughts of sons and daughters far away over 
land and seas turn lovingly and longingly toward the old 
fireside in Brookfield. 

"Those who have been permitted to return to this good 



MAYOR JAMES LOGAN 117 

old town have been living over again the days of long ago. 
We have been meeting old-time friends and acquaintances, 
and though our hair has been whitened by the years, once 
again we are boys and girls together. 

"In imagination we have visited the old swimming- 
hole, where we learned to swim; we have stood on the rocks 
where as boys we used to sit to dry off, and untie the knots 
which the other fellows had tied in our shirts. 

"We have recalled the promises made to fathers and 
mothers to come straight home from school, and not go into 
the water; and we remember the nights when we were being 
put to bed and our dear mothers discovered that our shirts 
were on inside out, or wrong side on, and yet, unmindful of 
the awful fate which befell Ananias and Sapphira, we would 
not own up that we had even been near the water. 

"In imagination we have crawled under the fence and 
secured the material for a corn roast in the woods. What 
wouldn't we give today for corn that would taste as that 
did! 

"We have visited the old cider mill and have sucked the 
cider through a straw, but we remember no more the aches 
and pains we had after the visit in days of yore. 

"We have once more in imagination smoked that first 
cigar. We did not in those days have those nasty little ciga- 
rets to lead us up to the cigar. Those were heroic days and 
we started in on what they called a 'long nine,' and it cured 
some of us, so that that one smoke in forty years has been all 
we wanted. 

"We have wandered down the road to Drake's melon 
patch, and after innocently looking around to see that the 
coast was clear, we have inspected the melons, simply to 
determine whether Drake was maintaining the standard. 

"We have been out skating on the pond, and through 
the forty-odd years of memory there comes to us the thrill 
that went through us as we skimmed over the ice holding 
those dear little hands in Mollie's muff. 



118 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

"We have in imagination been out riding on the West 
Brookfield road. Oh, those delightful rides down to the 
Kissing Grove on those beautiful country roads where the 
branches of the trees formed an arch over the road just wide 
enough for one team, and in those days the horses were well 
trained. They did not need to be driven, they just went; 
not too fast, but fast enough. That was before the day of 
State highways, and on those beautiful roads there was ab- 
solutely no danger that anyone would drive past and look 
back into the carriage, and we were never disturbed by the 
'honk, honk' of the modern Juggernaut which notifies us in 
these days to get off the earth. 

"Why shouldn't we love dear old Brookfield? What 
memories cluster about her! When we think of her, we can 
appropriate and make our own the words from our National 
hymn: 

I love thy rocks and rills, 
Thy woods and templed hills, 
My heart with rapture thrills, 
Like that above. 

"This occasion is great, because of the purpose for which 
we have come together. Two hundred and fifty years of 
eventful and honorable history lie behind us today, and two 
hundred and fifty years is a long time, as men count time, 
even in the life of a nation. 

"In 1660, some of the men and women who landed at 
Plymouth Rock were still living. This takes us back to the 
time when the Indians roamed over these beautiful hills and 
valleys, back to the beginning of things in this country, for 
we need to remember that that was long before the day of 
the United States. 

"The seed from which was to grow the mightiest Re- 
public on earth had but just been planted in the New World. 
In the Providence of God this virgin soil had been kept until 
the time was ripe for planting the tree of liberty. 

"During all these two hundred and fifty years, by a 



MAYOR JAMES LOGAN 119 

devious path God has led this nation, sometimes through the 
dark valley of defeat, but having passed through the valley, 
we have come out into the open beyond, where with a vision 
clarified by suffering and sacrifice we have been enabled to 
behold the larger truth. And thus, in His own way and in 
His own good time, there has been wrought out for us a truer 
victory and a larger truth. 

"Only 168 years before the founding of this town, Co- 
lumbus and his motley crews, seeking to find a sea route west- 
ward to India, sailed away over the uncharted seas; but, as 
often happens in our search for one thing, we find another; 
and so, as these men searched the wide waste of waters, they 
found, not the route they sought, but they found the new land 
which must needs arise to offer an unstained abode for the 
new ideals of human progress. 

"The powers of the middle ages were intolerant; at the 
same time they quite unconsciously permitted the discovery 
of a new land destined to be used, under God, for the creation 
of a new order of society that was to put an end to intoler- 
ance, and which was to dedicate this new continent to a 
modern democracy which had not yet been born. 

"The crews of Columbus were typical of the history of 
migration to the new world that lay unseen before the great 
discoverer. His crews were prophetic of the cosmopolitan 
character of the population of our country, for among his 
one hundred and twenty men were Italians, Spaniards, Por- 
tuguese, Frenchmen, Englishmen, Irishmen, Swedes, Moors, 
and Jews. 

"On that October morning, only one hundred and sixty- 
eight years before the founding of this town, the men with 
Columbus saw upon the shore the light which told them that 
a new continent had been found, and four hundred years 
later, on this same continent, two great Republics, then un- 
born, united in rearing a colossal figure of the Goddess of 
Liberty in bronze, to symbolize an idea of which, in 1492, 
men did not even dare to dream, 



120 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

'The idea of human liberty.' 
And so there stands in the harbor of New York, the gateway 
of this great nation, this colossal figure symbolizing liberty, 
holding aloft in her hand a torch, to light from sunset to sun- 
rise the great channel through which flows the stream of 
human life, which, blended into one, makes the American 
people. 

"From all quarters of the world we have gathered here 
to make our homes; the blood of all the families of mankind 
mingles here in a National life-giving stream, which flows 
forth into the civic life of America, and while the great Father 
of us all ordained that among the nations of the earth the 
language of the lips should be different, he also ordained that 
the language of the heart should be the same. 

"God has implanted in the breast of the entire human 
family a love for the land that gave them birth, and the near- 
er we get to the common people, the stronger that love seems 
to be. It matters not how wild, poor, desolate or down- 
trodden, the flame of divine love of country burns brightly 
in the hearts of her sons and daughters. 

"Someone has said that the only purpose of such a gath- 
ering as this is that it gives some people an opportunity 
to boast of their native land or of their ancestors, and there 
may be just a grain of truth in the criticism; but if it serves 
no better purpose than to create in each of us a stronger love 
for the country of our birth or of our adoption, and if it lift 
up in our estimation the ancestral name, so that there may 
be created in us the determination that no act of ours shall 
ever tarnish the good name of country or of kin, it will be 
time wisely spent, for we need that kind of a tonic in this day 
and generation. 

"The true purpose of such a gathering as this will be 
altogether lost, if it shall fail to impress us with a deeper and 
purer love for those eternal principles represented by the 
flag for which our brothers died; and if other men were will- 
ing, yes, if need be, glad to die for those colors, ought not we 




James E. Barr J. Thomas Webb 

Hon. George K. Tufts 
Charles S. Lane D. Clarence Wetherell 



CONCLUSION 121 

to be willing to live for them, and so to live that we will do 
our part to make a country worth dying for. 

"Some years ago, Henry Van Dyke was homesick in 
London, and longing for the land he loved, he gave expression 
to this sentiment which we Americans ought to cultivate: 

'Oh, London is a man's town; there's power in the air, 
And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair, 
And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study 

Rome, 
But when it comes to living, there's no place like home. 

Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me, 
I want a ship that's westward bound to plow the rolling sea, 
To the blessed land of room enough, beyond the ocean bars. 
Where the air is full of sunlight, and the flag is full of stars.' " 



VI. Conclusion. 

After the exercises in the main tent were over, a concert 
was given on the Common by the Worcester Brass Band. 
An hour later, the throngs that all day long had crowded 
West Brookfield as the little village had never been crowded 
before in the whole course of her existence, had melted away, 
and when the ringing of sunset bells in the four Quabaug 
townships announced the close of the great celebration, the 
mother district had resumed her customary calm. 

It is estimated that no less than 12,000 persons were 
present in West Brookfield during some portion of the day, 
and that at least 7,000 witnessed the battle on the hill, while 
the great audience tent was filled to the limit of its capacity 
during the exercises of the afternoon. The way in which 
the crowds were handled, so as to avoid the slightest sem- 
blance of disorder, was the subject of much favorable com- 
ment. The local police force was augmented by a squad of 
four policemen from Worcester, while a number of the State 
force mingled in plain clothes among the throngs. But 



122 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

there was little for them to do. The thousands of visitors 
were easily handled, while, if any crooks were present — as 
almost invariably is the case on such occasions — the pre- 
cautions taken to guard against their operations proved 
ample. 

There was a total absence, too, of disorder due to liquor, 
and the fact that not a single intoxicated person was seen 
upon the streets reflects the highest credit upon all in author- 
ity. Nor did the slightest accident occur to mar the day's 
celebration. The Joint Executive Committee has every 
reason to congratulate itself upon the perfection of its ar- 
rangements and the complete success with which they were 
carried out. 

In the evening, the Worcester Brass Band gave a second 
concert, upon the grounds of the Merriam Library; but, with 
few exceptions, only the villagers themselves and their own 
private guests were there to hear. At an early hour the music 
ceased ; one by one the lights in the houses were extinguished, 
and, with the breath of the night air through the deserted 
streets, came a mysterious rustling sound, as though old 
Father Time were folding down another leaf in the ancient 
tome of Quabaug history. 



APPENDIX A 



List of the ladies and gentlemen who served as a Reception Com- 
mittee under the chairmanship of Hon. Theodore C. Bates: 

Brookfield. 

Mr. and Mrs. Henry V. Crosby Mr. and Mrs. Edwin D. Goodell 

Mrs. John L. Mulcahy Mr. and Mrs. William B. Hastings 

Edward F. Delaney Mr. and Mrs. Warren E. Tarbell 

Mr. and Mrs. William F. Hayward 

West Brookfield. 



Mrs. Susan F. Fullam 
Mrs. George H. Fales 
Miss Alice J. White 
Mrs. John G. Shackley 
Mrs. Sumner H. Reed 
Mrs. Nellie J. L. Canterbury 
Mrs. James D. Farley 
Mrs. Benson M. Frink 
Mrs. Philander Holmes 
Mrs. Charles H. Clarke 
Mrs. Arvilla Makepeace 
Mrs. Nellie D. Makepeace 
Mrs. Eh M. Converse 
Mrs. Chauncey L. Olmstead 
Mrs. Nellie Coffin 



Miss Mary Lynde 

Mrs. Elisha Webb 

Mrs. Allen Jones 

Mrs. Harold Chesson 

Mrs. Charlton D. Richardson 

Miss Marianna Blair 

Charles O'M. Edson 

Dr. Charles A. Blake 

Dr. Frederick W. Coles 

Dr. Clifford J. Huyck 

Dr. Clement E. Bill 

George H. Coolidge 

John A. Conway 

Dwight Fairbanks 

John J. Mulvey 



North Brookfield. 



Hon. and Mrs. Theodore C. Bates 
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred C. Stoddard 
Mr. and Mrs. Harold A. Foster 
Mr. and Mrs. Charles E.Batcheller 
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert T. Maynard 



Mrs. George R. Doane 
Miss Bertha Collins 
Miss Katherine Doyle 
Mrs. George A. Whiting 
Horace J. Lawrence 



Ward A. Smith 
New Braintree. 
Hon. and Mrs. George K. Tufts Mrs. James P. Utley 
Mr. and Mrs. J. Thomas Webb Mrs. Edward L. Havens 
Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Barlow John Bowen 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Lane Charles H. Barr 



124 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

APPENDIX B 

Troopers who rode in the Pageant under Carlton D. Richardson, 
who represented Captain Edward Hutchinson: 

Walter A. Putnam of Warren, representing Captain Wheeler. 

John P. Ranger, of North Brookfield, representing Major Wilson. 

Alfred C. White, of West Brookfield. 

Bowman S. Beaman. of West Brookfield. 

Lewis K. Bruce, of West Brookfield. 

Elmer Perry, of West Brookfield. 

Martin Walsh, of West Brookfield. 

Francis McReavy, of West Brookfield. 

I. Walter Moore, of Warren. 

George Freeman, of Warren. 

Myron Rice, of Warren. 

APPENDIX C 

Troopers who rode in the Pageant with Alfred C. Stoddard, who 
represented Major Simon Willard: 

Henry E. Cottle, of Brookfield representing Captain Parker. 

George A. Putney, of Brookfield. 

Windsor R. Smith, of West Brookfield. 

Philander Holmes, of West Brookfield. 

Ralph M. Buffington, of West Brookfield. 

Fred B. Walls, of West Brookfield. 

Howard Foster, of West Brookfield. 

Lewis Richardson, of West Brookfield 

William M. Richardson, of West Brookfield. 

Harold Risley, of West Brookfield. 

Daniel McReavy, of West Brookfield. 

Edmond Smith, of West Brookfield. 

John J. Mulvey, of West Brookfield. 

Robert Converse, of West Brookfield. 

G. Lincoln Smith, of North Brookfield. 

H. Stanley Smith, of North Brookfield. 

Milo D. Childs, of North Brookfield. 

Harry K. Woodis, of North Brookfield. 

George O'Brien, of North Brookfield. 

Maxey C. Converse, of North Brookfield. 

Archibald D. Melvin, of North Brookfield 

Charles S. Lane, of New Braintree. 

Charles M. Dailey, of New Braintree. 



APPENDIX 



125 



Fred O'Brien, of New Braintree. 
Charles H. Fales, of New Braintree. 
Charles W. Ross, of New Braintree. 
A. W. Bliss, of Warren. 
Milton H. Lathe, of Warren. 
George E. Rice, of Warren 
Harry 0. Rice, of Warren. 



APPENDIX D 



Individuals who represented settlers in the Pageant: 



Lindsey Smith 


Miss Louise Hazen 


Miss Dorothy Smith 


Miss Maud Beauregard 


Carlton P. Tyler 


Miss Martha Canterbury 


Miss Emma B. Tyler 


Miss Marguerita Fales 


Miss Stella Tyler 


Edward J. O'Day 


Miss Myrle E. Dodge 


Miss Theresa O'Day 


Miss Alice E. Babbitt 


Miss Catharine B. O'Day 


Miss Charlotte Thurston 


Miss Anna O'Day 


Miss Margaret Blair 


George A. Whiting 


Miss Grace Whiting 


David B. McKerley 


Miss Dorothy Makepeace 


Miss Nettie Allen 


Stanton Furguson 


Miss Edna Allen 


Miss Eleanor G. Bill 


George Boothby 


Miss Susan Bill 


Alfred Mundell 


Miss Marjory Cutler 


Miss Jennie Mundell 


Miss Esther Mulvey 


Miss Angie Mundell 


Miss Nellie Mulvey 


Miss Carrie Allen 


Miss Hazel A. Anderson 


Miss Marion Allen 


Miss Dora M. Allen 


Miss Grace Allen 


Miss Gladys E. McKerley 


John J. Mulvey, Jr. 


Alfred R. Allen 


Miss Mary Gilmore 


Miss Jennie Hocum 


Arthur Brigham 


Miss Ruth Green 


Miss Ruth Warfield 


APPENDIX E 



Gunmen in the Pageant: 
Alva Sikes, of West Brookfield. 
Warren Davis, of West Brookfield. 
George E. Allen, of West Brookfield. 
Frank W. Baker, of West Brookfield. 



126 



TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 



Henry W. Ayres, of North Brookfield, a descendant of Sergeant 
John Ayres, killed in the fight with the Indians at Wenimesset, and of 
Joseph, 4, the only son of Sergeant John to return at the re-settlement 
of Brookfield, was to have acted as one of the gunmen. But, although 
present throughout the day, he was prevented by the condition of his 
health from taking an active part in the proceedings. 



APPENDIX F 

Members of the Quabaug Tribe of Red Men who represented 
Indian Warriors in the Pageant: 



John J. Fitzgerald 
Clarence W. S. Allen 
David H. Robinson 
William Macuin 
Henry H. Flagg 



Arthur R. Stone 



CHIEFS. 

William Letendre 
Frank A. Brown 
Frank E. Brown 
Frank Macuin 
Otto Olmstead 



Edward M. Houghton 



Sumner H. Reed 
Levi Flagg 
Louis Brown 
Louis Baily 
Charles Stone 
Charles Wine 
William Dane 
John Nelson 
B. A. Conway 
Edward Davis 
R. T. Allis 
R. D. Olmstead 
Alfred Brigham 
Richard Young 
George Canterbury 



8COUTS. 

Arthur H. Bates 

WARRIORS. 

Arthur Bell 
Harold Babbitt 
Ralph Clark 
A. E. Shumway 
Robert Walker 
William Foster 
Frank Mahoney 
Joseph Clark 
Paul Grondine 
Bert Shepherd 
John Morgan 
W. Potter 
Roy Haskins 
Frank Griffin 
Charles Brigham 



APPENDIX G 

Members of the first and second grades of the West Brookfield 
Public Schools who rode in the parade as the "Committee in Charge of 
the 300th Anniversary Celebration": 



APPENDIX 



127 



Alberta Delpech 
Eleanor Morgan 
Harriet Boothby 
Mary Mulvey 
Helen Flagg 
Gladys Pratt 
Millie Wright 
Helen Canterbury 
Edith Greene 
Winifred Woodward 
Lena Sankosky 
Mary Begley 
Earl Smith 



Philip Tolman 
Donald Duggan 
Francis Flagg 
Alonzo Gilbert 
Norman Smith 
Burton Smith 
Elliot Guertin 
Milan Lynch 
Ralph Chapin 
Milton Richardson 
Richard Kent 
Edward Morgan 
Walter Gould 
Francis Barrett 



Miss Alice J. White has taught these grades in the West Brookfield 
schools for thirty-three years. She is a descendant of Peregrine White, 
and also of John White, who was killed in the Brookfield meadows, 
during the early years of Brookfield history. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 077 296 3 



